Hermione Granger: Sorceress Returning
by Lil Drop Of Magic
Summary: Sometimes, the recovery is just as hard as the ordeal itself. Part FIVE in series.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything from the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Harry Potter.

A/N: Hi guys! Welcome to the next installment of my Hermione in the MCU series. In case any of you are unaware, this is the FIFTH part of the series. The previous one: Hermione Granger: Guardian of the Galaxy was listed as a crossover between HP and GotG so some of you may not have read it yet. I highly urge you to go and read it (or any of the fics in the series that you've missed) because otherwise this story will be quite confusing.

I am SO excited to share this new fic with you and I know lots of you have been waiting patiently for the next part. I wasn't actually going to post this today because it's a busy weekend but, as it's the incomparable Emma Watson's birthday today, I felt like it was almost a sign that I should!

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been three days since you disappeared. The constant fear of not knowing what's happening to you, where you are, whether you're all right or what I can do to help you has been suffocating me. I don't think I've ever felt so helpless in my life. All I want to do is talk to you. But I can't. This is the next best thing._

 _These past few days have been like a nightmare but I am, at least, thankful for the special dial you made for me on my watch. Without that, I probably would have been scouring Earth for you instead of turning my attention to the stars – especially as Natasha has no recollection of the event. She's fine, by the way, but she had to spend a bit of time under J.A.R.V.I.S's close supervision after we found her unconscious in your apartment._

 _Tony was in DC within twenty minutes of me telling him that you were gone, and he's been so worried about you that he's only complained twice about being ditched from our attempted spur-of-the-moment wedding._

 _Our first thought was that perhaps you had been embroiled in another Thor-related drama but Tony was able to use his technology to prove that there have been no recent readings that would indicate somebody has used the Bifrost. Since then, Tony's been using J.A.R.V.I.S and his many contacts to find out if there have been any indications that an alien ship has been near Earth in the last few days. In the wake of S.H.I.E.L.D's fall, the world seems to be in a bit of chaos and it's clear that no one is going to take our claim that you've been abducted by aliens seriously unless we have harder evidence than the dial of a watch._

 _Even though we don't think he's involved in your disappearance, we still want to get in touch with Thor because his knowledge of space could be invaluable. We just don't know how to contact him. I had hoped that he might become aware of what was going on down here because you said his gatekeeper watches over us. But then I also remembered you saying that your magic prevented the gatekeeper from seeing you and I have a feeling that might be obscuring his 'vision' when he's watching us. Or perhaps it's your 'secret' spell that has prevented Thor from learning about your disappearance. It's certainly made things confusing when letting some of our friends know the situation. Pepper doesn't know that you're the Sorceress anymore so we had to tell her that both Hermione and the Sorceress were abducted together. I contacted your Ministry as per the emergency protocol that we had in place but I haven't heard anything official back. Harry, however, has been requesting updates every couple of hours._

 _I have no choice but to be positive and I'm hopeful that every hour will bring some sort of news to help us get you back._

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been five days since you disappeared._

 _Tony came in while I was signing off your letter yesterday. He looked to be on the verge of unleashing one of his infamous witty remarks but he somehow managed to choke it down. I wonder how long this mindful and restrained version of Tony will last before he cracks and spends a solid hour ridiculing everyone and everything in sight. What he_ did _say was that it would be a lot easier to record my messages to you on a video camera instead. I considered his suggestion but putting pen to paper feels a lot more comfortable for me._

 _During the war, I was actually jealous of the men who wrote letters home because at least they had someone to write to. I can't believe how naïve I was because, as I've discovered, having someone to pour your heart out to makes it so much easier for it to be broken. What makes it even more painful is being unable to even send my words to you or hope to receive anything in return._

 _The only reassurance I have that you're alive is the dial on my watch. Sam says I've got a trace of an obsessive compulsive disorder because he's clocked me checking my watch at least twice a minute since you left. The split second between when I press the button and your dial appearing is utterly terrifying in case that dial_ doesn't _appear and I'll know then that you're dead. It's a good thing that I've got a medically advanced body because otherwise I don't think my heart would be able to take the stress that I keep putting it through._

 _I had word from your Ministry today that they would be sending a representative to meet with me in the next couple of days. I sincerely hope that it's Harry because otherwise it's going to take a very long time to explain everything._

 _Tony hasn't been able to find any evidence of an alien ship that's been in Earth's vicinity recently so either the ship had incredibly advanced technology to cloak itself, or they transported you off the planet another way. Tony's rather downbeat about the results and, to be honest, I haven't got much of an idea of what to do next._

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been seven days since you disappeared._

 _For months, you and I had been looking forward to this day because it would finally be the one when we got married. I can't deny that has made today a little harder._

 _One person who didn't get the message that our wedding was postponed was Thor. After a week of waiting and hoping for him to arrive, Thor turned up at Avengers Tower full of apologies. Apparently, he had arrived at the Bifrost Bridge all ready to attend our wedding only for Heimdall to tell him that it appeared something had gone amiss. It seems your magic really does affect his vision but at least your 'secret' spell didn't travel as far as Asgard. Thor was shocked and disturbed when we told him what had happened to you. At first he didn't believe that someone had taken you off world and I had to show him my watch to prove it. However, he wasn't surprised to hear that you've been constantly travelling for the last seven days because, according to him, there is nowhere near Earth that's a short journey away. We briefed him on everything we know (as little as it is) and then he left to conduct his own investigations with a promise to be back in the next few days to update us on his progress._

 _It turns out that Thor wasn't the only visitor I had today. Harry and I met over coffee this afternoon. He said he was there as his role as backup liaison with S.H.I.E.L.D but chiefly as a concerned friend. I told him all that I could about our battle with HYDRA, your disappearance and what efforts have been made to find you. Harry told me that the Minister is very concerned but will do his best to hide your missing status for as long as he can. Also, as long as you're alive, Harry's role will still be that as a backup. He can discuss events in the world with me but he's not allowed to take an active role. It's for the best because I can only imagine how annoyed you'd be if you came back home and discovered that magic had been revealed._

 _Harry's going to stay in the city for a few days until I hear back from Thor. Let's just hope the Asgardians can come through for us._

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been fifteen days since you disappeared._

 _As you know, the last few days have been uneventful since Thor returned to Asgard but today we finally heard back from him. Unfortunately, he was only able to pass on frustrating news._

 _The Asgardians still rely on their gatekeeper for all their surveillance which obviously doesn't help us at all because he knows nothing about what happened to you. Thor asked his father if there was anyone he could think of that would have reason to abduct you but Odin couldn't offer any answers. Judging by Thor's demeanour, the king of Asgard is not being as helpful as we'd hoped even though you saved the Nine Realms just a few months ago! Despite Odin's claims that searching the galaxy for you would be a fruitless endeavour, Thor has organised a handful of ships to start looking for any clues that might point to your whereabouts or tell us about your captors._

 _Waste of time or not, that's the first thing to be done that might actually bring me closer to you so I told Thor that I was going on one of those ships. He didn't look convinced that what I said was a good idea but I pointed out that my watch means that I'm the only person we know that has any tangible connection with you right now. Thor mulled things over for a few minutes and then agreed that I could come – maybe he could see just how desperate I was to do something that might actually mean we get closer to finding you. I'm so sick of just milling around, hoping for news, that I fear for the state of my sanity if I don't do something – even if it's just a change of scenery._

 _Thor says we'll leave tomorrow, which is perfect because it means I can talk to Harry, Tony, Sam and Natasha before I go._

 _So, although today was frustrating in terms of news, I can't help but feel excited that I'm doing something proactive to find you._

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been thirty-five days since you disappeared._

 _You've finally stopped travelling._

 _You're still in mortal peril according to your dial but hopefully you'll stay put from now on and then we'll have a better chance of finding you. This news was met with celebration on the ship because it's the first piece of new information we've had about you since we started our journey. I know I've already spoken to you of my frustration about this in my last few letters and I suppose I shouldn't have been so naïve to think that the species living in the galaxy should know each other's business._

 _We're going to run some models to see where someone would end up if they travelled for thirty-four days straight from Earth. It might turn out to be irrelevant to your actual location but, if there's a chance that it isn't, it's worth doing._

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been fifty-four days since you disappeared._

 _Happy Thanksgiving._

 _It would be very easy for me to scoff at this holiday – what have I got to be thankful for?!_

 _A lot, actually._

 _I'm thankful for every moment you've been a part of my life and I count my blessings for every second that ticks by while you're still alive, because it still gives us the chance of a future together. That in itself would see me through a lifetime of Thanksgivings. But, of course, I'm also incredibly thankful for the friends who've supported us through this hellish time._

 _I told Thor how grateful I was and he seemed bemused by my comment until I explain that it was a custom of my culture. He then proceeded to list all of the things he, too, was grateful for. It was a very long (and somewhat revealing) list. I, for one, had no idea he was so thankful for the existence of peanut butter but then he showed me a pot from the secret supply he'd smuggled to Asgard after his last trip to Earth._

 _We're due to arrive at a new space port tomorrow so hopefully we'll be able to hear some hint of you – not that I can understand what any of these other species are saying! It really does put me into my place in terms of my insignificance in the wider universe._

 _After the outing of our relationship last Thanksgiving and us both being in deep space this year, here's hoping that next Thanksgiving is more conventional._

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been one hundred days since you disappeared._

 _A whole century of days in this nightmare. I can readily believe it's been that long since I've seen your smile or heard your laugh or even felt the way your fingers twined so perfectly between my own…_

 _We're heading back to Asgard._

 _Odin gave Thor permission to be away from the realm for a hundred days and by the time we get there, his limit will be up. It is unbelievably disappointing to be returning with so little to show for it. We've put the word out in as many places as possible (and we've covered quite a range with the different ships under Thor's command) but there's simply been no sign of you from anyone. I can only assume that your captors still have you hidden away somewhere out of sight of other life._

 _Thor suggested that I continue the search aboard one of the other ships; he's not going to stop the hunt just because he's got to be back on Asgard. I'll think about it but I feel like some time on Earth would be best. I haven't heard any news from home since I left and I owe our friends an update. I also feel guilty about how I left when HYDRA had just come to the fore again. And what about Bucky? What if he's been found and I haven't been there to make sure he's OK? What if someone else has gone missing and your abduction isn't just an isolated incident?_

 _I guess I should stop with that line of thinking because it's starting to make me anxious and there's no way I can know the answers to any of my questions for another few days yet…_

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been 117 days since you disappeared._

 _I have just arrived back on Earth and, so far, everything seems to be much like it was before I left a hundred days ago. It's pretty late right now so I expect I'll be able to get more of a feel of the current state of affairs tomorrow._

 _Before I left Asgard a few hours ago, Odin joined Thor in coming to see me off. It was the first time I've seen the king and I must admit to being a little surprised by his presence, knowing how he had disapproved of our search for you. He spoke with an air of inevitability about our failure to locate you, though his words weren't unkind despite his being proven right so far. Odin spoke of his pain at the loss of his wife, how her death haunted him and he advised me to move on before I've wasted my life on a fruitless endeavour. I told him that, while I knew you were still alive, I would never lose hope – would he give up if he knew his wife was still out there? Odin avoided my query and instead posed the question of what exactly I would find if I_ did _somehow manage to have you back in my life? He said that you had most likely been taken by people who don't have the best intentions. Odin explained that he has seen much in his long life and he has witnessed how a long time held in darkness can change and ruin a person until they are unrecognisable. He told me to be satisfied with the person I remember; be grateful for the pleasant memories I have of you. Hopefully, it would not surprise you that I rejected his suggestion with a vow that I would always be there for you in whatever capacity you need me._

 _However, in some ways, he is right because I've been so focused on getting you back that I haven't really considered what I will find when I do. Part of the reason for this is that my mind is_ terrified _at the thought of what could be happening to you. Odin's seen a lot in all his years but so have I and it makes me sick that I can't protect you from any of the nightmares that my brain creates…_

 _But I know you are strong. You are_ so _strong that it astonishes me. You are brave, exceptionally clever and resourceful, determined to the point of stubbornness and you have the fighting instinct to survive even in the face of death. When I see you again – and that_ is _a_ when _and not an_ if – _no matter what you've been through or how you have changed, I will be here for you. Whatever you need from me, I will gladly give it. However long it takes, I will wait, I swear it to you._

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been 118 days since you disappeared._

 _When I signed off your letter last night, I was still aggravated by Odin's words and somewhat overwhelmed to be back on Earth that I finished in a hurry. I forgot to mention that Odin had (seemingly reluctantly) agreed to finance a reward for information about your whereabouts. Thor is hopeful that this new tactic will produce fresh leads as there's nothing like money to get people to start paying attention. I just wish we could have used the lure of money while Thor and I were hunting for you._

 _Today I got in contact with our friends to update them on my journey. Avengers Tower was empty when I got in last night but J.A.R.V.I.S must have informed Tony I was back because he was here when I woke up. He seemed quite agitated as I briefly informed him of the main events of my trip and how we weren't much closer to finding you. He slammed his fist down on the counter when I told him that and, although he denied it, I know that he did it hard enough to hurt himself. He also muttered a few choice words that would even make some of my grittier army buddies raise an eyebrow._

 _Unsurprisingly, the disappointment was a common theme when I spoke to Sam and Natasha. They're both out of the country at the moment but said they'd be back soon. I messaged Harry last night and he appeared this afternoon. He was very quiet. He and Ginny got married a couple of weeks ago but even talking about that hardly raised Harry's spirits. He reassured me that your world was still unaware of your disappearance._

 _I spent the rest of the day catching up on what's been happening in the world since I've been away. There's been absolutely no sign of Bucky and I'm conflicted over whether that's good or not. HYDRA, on the other hand, are_ everywhere _and a decent percentage of people don't think that's a bad thing. They've almost become a legitimate corporation; can you believe that?! Unfortunately, S.H.I.E.L.D's name isn't seen in much better light than HYDRA's. I know we sought to take S.H.I.E.L.D down when we found out how it had been infiltrated by HYDRA but there seems to be a pretty gaping hole where it once stood. Maria Hill is working for Tony now and they're seeking to take on a little of what S.H.I.E.L.D left behind but it seems that the world is in a more vulnerable state. Neither Maria nor Tony have heard anything from Fury, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised._

 _It definitely feels strange to be back on Earth after the confines of space travel. Despite the depressing nature of the days as a whole, I can't deny that the freedom of being able to go and do whatever I want without Thor and his team being a factor has been a welcome change. Undoubtedly, I owe them a huge debt, but I feel like I can breathe a little easier._

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been 208 days since you disappeared._

 _Happy Anniversary, my love. It's been two years since we first met and a whole year since we got engaged. I would say that time has flown since then but the last few months have crawled by at a snail's pace. Today wasn't exactly the worst of days but here's hoping that we actually get to celebrate our third anniversary together._

 _I managed to pay a visit to Peggy this morning. It's been a couple of months since I've seen her because I was trying to deny something, but today I could avoid the truth no longer – Peggy's mind is deteriorating. Deep down, I always knew that would be a possible consequence when she's not been able to take your potion anymore, but it's truly heart-breaking to witness it come true. Our conversation kept going around in circles as she forgot things we'd talked about only a few minutes earlier. She was such an extraordinarily clever and vibrant person that it kills me to see her become such a shadow of herself. The health workers are taken aback by her sudden decline and their best estimate is that she only has a few months left. I know Peggy's a fighter but if she'd become too dependent on your potion then I don't know if she's going to be able to prove them wrong._

 _There was one bit of good news today though; Harry sent me a message to say that he and Ginny are expecting a child due in October. I can picture the delighted grin on your face at that news. Harry certainly seems very excited and I'm really pleased that_ somebody's _happy at the moment._

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been 359 days since you disappeared._

 _Thor brought some very interesting news with him today. The Asgardians that are still trawling the galaxy reported a strange rumour back to him that Earth had been destroyed. I know from my own travels that 'Terra' is not even a blip on most alien species' map because we're so out of the way for them but the fact that another person is even_ mentioning _Earth is very interesting. The Asgardians are going to try and dig more into this rumour just in case it has some connection to you._

 _We had a mini-Avengers gathering as Natasha and Tony were in town too and it was nice to have their companionship even if it felt like there was a massive hole in the room without you there. Tony asked Nat if she was interested in doing a bit of recon on a facility that was suspected of having dodgy dealings with HYDRA. She practically jumped at the offer and then Tony asked me if I wanted to join her. I haven't carried out an op in a while because I've been focusing on my searches for you and Bucky but I figured that it couldn't hurt to get in the game again so I accepted. And, with it being nearly a whole year since you disappeared, I guess a job is exactly what I need to keep my mind busy._

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been 446 days since you disappeared._

 _Merry Christmas._

 _I have to admit, the holiday season was much easier to cope with when on a spaceship in deep space. Even Thanksgiving was easier to avoid this year when I was chasing that disappointing Bucky lead in Morocco with Sam. For the last couple of weeks, you could hardly turn your head without having some gaudy, over-sentimental holiday trash burned into your vision and it's been all over the television and radio too. I know that if you were with me, I wouldn't feel this negatively but that's little comfort right now. I had planned on trying to pretend that this day was just like any other but Pepper insisted that I join her and Tony for dinner. I know she was being nice but I honestly don't understand why she would want my gloomy, brooding presence bringing down everyone's spirits on the most festive day of the year. Tony was drunk for the entire proceedings and I probably would've joined him if it wouldn't have been rude to Pepper – and if I actually had the capability to become intoxicated without one of your special brews._

 _I know that today is about spreading love to mankind but, when my love is going through some unknown hell a million miles away, I just feel a deep anger that I don't know how to handle. In many ways I'm a lucky guy, I know that and I don't want to complain, but all I actually wanted to do today was scream about my frustration that I'm not with you and how it feels like I can't do_ anything _to bring this torturous time to an end. The unbreakable punchbag that you bewitched for me got a serious pounding tonight, yet that could only sate a small portion of my anger. And I wish that I could say that the moving photograph that Harry and Ginny sent me of little James sleeping peacefully in a Santa hat blew away my ire but it didn't._

 _I'm allowed to feel furious about this situation, aren't I? Nobody could be expected to keep a level head at a time like this; I'm no different from anyone else. Regardless, I hope it's just a symptom of the season because I hate to feel this way._

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been 473 days since you disappeared._

 _I finally had an update from Thor today. The rumour about Earth's destruction is more widespread now and the inhabitants of the galaxy seem to think it was an intentional act of warfare. The name being bandied around as responsible for destroying the planet is some guy called Thanos. The Asgardians asked around about Thanos and they discovered that he is an incredibly powerful being that would be truly capable of genocide like that – apparently he's wiped out civilizations before. We don't know whether Thanos started the rumour or if someone else is responsible or even why that rumour was started in the first place. The Asgardians attempted to dispel the myth about Earth's destruction to whoever they met but it seems everyone prefers the version where a planet gets blown up. Incidentally, a footnote of Earth's destruction is that the area is unsafe for space travel because the area is now extremely unstable. Thor believes that it's just because whoever started the rumour doesn't want people travelling to Earth and discovering that it's very much intact. He also said that he'd like to investigate Thanos further but the Asgardians don't have as much influence in the wider galaxy. If Thanos is as powerful as people say he is, it would be unwise to get on his bad side when he may have done nothing against us in the first place. And, of course, the frustrating thing is there's still no link between your disappearance and this rumour._

 _Your dial is still showing you as travelling for long periods of time and then simply showing you as in mortal peril and offworld for a few hours. I hope that this means you are exploring different planets and star systems which can only mean that there's a greater chance of you being recognised by somebody._

 _Be strong, my love, as I will try to be for you._

 _Steve_

* * *

 _Dear Hermione,_

 _It's been 564 days since you disappeared._

 _Natasha called us in early this morning to assist her with the Op in Sudan. She'd discovered a whole army of HYDRA soldiers in Port Sudan so we got on the quinjet straight away and, if we'd just had you back, we would've been a full strength team. The soldiers were led by a scientist named Jensen and she'd managed to get hold of Chitauri technology which she'd developed into weapons. Long story short, we won, but it was a close run thing because her weapons were incredibly powerful. Clint was the hero of the day because he managed to destroy her laser pack with an incredible shot with one of his arrows._

 _Everyone on our side is fine but Bruce is a little shaken up after having transformed into the Other Guy as he'd been hoping to avoid it. It's been a long day and I'm writing to you whilst on the Quinjet because it's actually very close to midnight and if I don't write now then I'll have missed a day for the very first time and there's no way that's going to happen._

Steve put his pen down to check his watch so he could check how Hermione was getting on but Clint yelled that they were docking at Avengers Tower and Steve carefully tucked the letter away before it got lost in the hustle and bustle as they disembarked.

"Did you tell her how awesome I was today?" Tony asked, noticing Steve hiding the paper away.

"Do you mean: did I tell her that Jensen nearly brought you down with her laser?" he retorted and Tony looked mock-offended. "No, I didn't tell her, but I haven't finished writing it yet so there's still time to add that in since you asked to be included."

Together, they made light work of unloading the Quinjet and Tony disappeared for a moment before returning with Maria and an eight-pack of beer. "To a job well done," he announced, starting to pass them round.

Clint frowned down at his beer. "Is this all we get?" he asked in disappointment. "What about the good stuff?"

"I'm not giving the single malts out after _every_ job," Tony scoffed and he held out his hand. "If you're not grateful for the beer then I'll just take it back."

Clint used the edge of the counter to make the beer cap pop off and took a large swig. "Nah," he sighed, "You're good."

Steve accepted his beer with a nod of thanks and pulled the cap off effortlessly as the others took theirs too.

Tony took one for himself then put the remaining bottle on the side; everyone's eyes involuntarily drawn to the solemn sight and the atmosphere dipped.

"She hates beer anyway," Steve said, attempting to make light of the situation and a couple of people smiled.

Bruce held his bottle aloft. "To friends, whether they be near or far," he toasted.

" _Friends_ ," the others repeated, followed by a number of clinks as the bottles were tapped against each other. Steve's throat tightened with emotion and he spluttered a little as he struggled to swallow the liquid.

The first he knew that something was wrong was when one of the bottles of beer slipped from someone's grip and smashed into the floor. Steve glanced up quickly and saw that everyone's gaze was occupied by something behind him and they looked utterly stunned by what they saw. He turned around and his mind went blank as it struggled to process what was before him.

"… _Hermione_?"

* * *

A/N: Happy Cliffhanger!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Hi lovely ones! The response to the last chapter was INSANE! Thank you for all the love. I've been looking forward to this part of the series for AGES. You have no idea how long I had this scene in my head! So, let's get on with it!

* * *

Neither Hermione nor Steve could believe what they were seeing.

For Steve, it was the fulfilment of a hope he had craved for so long without any assurance that it would actually come true. But, for Hermione, it was a confirmation that everything she'd thought she'd known had been turned on its head yet again. She hadn't allowed herself to believe what Fandral had told her of Earth's continued existence until this moment, when she had seen for herself that her loved ones were just as they were when she'd last seen them – although there _was_ still a chance that this was an extremely cruel dream.

Her emotions overwhelmed her and the moment was shattered as an outburst of her magic caused the glass exterior of the tower to explode. Hermione recovered immediately and held her hand out to stop the shards in place as the others ducked for cover. With a wave of the same hand, the glass fused itself back together.

Her friends stared at her in surprise but Steve could see the fear in her eyes and he closed the distance between them in a few strides and finally wrapped her in his arms. "It's OK," he whispered, "I'm here."

Hermione stood rigidly for a moment, struggling to keep her thoughts and feelings under control as her senses were assaulted by the familiarity of his presence.

"I've got you," he reassured her gently.

 _I know_.

Steve felt a jolt of adrenaline as her words echoed in his mind. She clutched tightly at his shirt for a moment and he heard her take a steadying breath before pulling back. He let her go reluctantly and experienced a stabbing sensation in his chest as he saw the pain that lurked under the surface of her gaze. She broke the eye contact as she looked past him at the others.

"Hi," she greeted softly.

It was very difficult for her to keep herself calm as her emotions flooded through her body with each heartfelt hug she received from her friends.

"Now, _this_ calls for the good stuff," Tony declared, striding over to the bar with a bounce in his step that Steve had forgotten his friend normally possessed as it had been so long since he'd seen it.

Hermione could sense that her friends were positively brimming with questions and she felt a wave of nausea sweep through her at the mere thought of having to relive her darkest experiences. A recurring feeling of panic, that none of this was real, gripped at her gut and she accepted the glass from Tony with trembling fingers, and took a sip in the hopes that the drink would steady her nerves.

Steve watched her in concern. He gave her hand a comforting squeeze and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. She smiled at him tightly for a second then let out yet another long, steadying breath.

"This is a lot," she admitted quietly, biting her lip and briefly closing her eyes. Everyone else paused in their conversations despite the softness of her words and she swallowed thickly when she saw she held their attention. "At the start of my captivity I was told, quite convincingly, that Earth was gone, you see," she said by way of explanation and forced out a laugh at her own expense. "I know; I was an idiot. But, for many months until a few minutes ago, I thought you were all dead so, as I said, this is a lot to take in." She took another sip of Scotch to avoid looking at them. It may be one of the most expensive drinks on the planet but she couldn't stand the taste, although she did appreciate any steadying influence it had on her. "I hoped _you_ were alive," she continued, glancing at Thor and then returning her gaze to the amber liquid as she swirled it around the ice, "And I eventually learned of the reward you put out for me. That's how I got home. My friends took me to Asgard and then Heimdall transported me upstate."

"I'm honoured to have been of some assistance in conveying you back to where you belong, Hermione," Thor replied warmly with a bow of his head. "I only regret that it has taken so long."

"How long have I been away?" she asked. "Measuring the passage of time was quite difficult for me."

Everyone looked at Steve expectantly so Hermione did too. "Five hundred and sixty-four days," he informed her. "About eighteen months."

Hermione's lips formed into an 'o' of surprise. She knew she'd spent a lot of time being trained up on Thanos' domain but she hadn't expected it to have been quite that long. And then she took in the fact that Steve had been so quick and precise with the number – as though he'd been counting every single day since she'd been taken… "Oh," she sighed, guilt sweeping through her as she gazed at Steve and noticed for the first time how drawn he looked, which said a lot when he was gifted with his super soldier body. "I've been so caught up in my own feelings that I haven't even begun to consider how my absence has affected others."

"Yeah, you're so selfish," Natasha muttered sarcastically.

"How dare you not consider our feelings after being held captive by aliens for eighteen months?" Clint put in with mock outrage.

"OK, I know I sound like a bleeding heart," Hermione allowed, "but when I thought you were all dead, as awful as that was, it meant that I only had to focus on myself. _You_ didn't know where I was or if you would ever see me again." Her gaze had unconsciously returned to Steve and her heart ached for the painful uncertainty he had been through.

"How about we agree that nobody's had a particularly happy time of it lately?" Bruce suggested diplomatically and Hermione nodded.

"So, what have I missed?" she asked. She let their words wash over her, holding tight to Steve's hand as she expected to wake up on the _Milano_ at any moment.

Steve heard this thought and couldn't deny that he feared that this was a dream too. He was unsure if Hermione knew he could hear her thoughts in his mind but he would wait until later before bringing it up. Having had so little of Hermione in his life for so long, Steve would've enjoyed hearing her internal comments were it not for the fact that he could hear how disturbed and panicked she was inside. She was putting on a brave face in front of the others but he feared that the longer this conversation went on, the greater risk there was of her losing control.

In the end, he didn't have to bring up drawing the conversation to a close because Hermione was so focused on trying to 'keep cool' that she inadvertently froze the rest of the Scotch in her glass and gave Steve's fingers a distinctly blue tinge. When she saw what she'd done, her eyes widened and she immediately applied a warming charm whilst muttering how sorry she was. With Hermione concentrating on his hand, Steve was able to wordlessly signal to his team that she needed space.

Natasha instigated the break by pointing out that she hadn't slept in over thirty hours and the group gradually filtered away with promises to spend more time together the next day.

Stepping into the room she had always shared with Steve, Hermione was surprised to discover that it looked _exactly_ the same as she remembered. She looked at him curiously and, without even hearing her voice in his head, he knew what she was thinking.

"I couldn't sleep in here without you," he explained simply. He didn't feel it necessary to tell her that the familiar scents and memories had made it far too difficult and painful to enter into a state of sleep. "I was lucky that Tony's got so many spare rooms here."

Hermione felt every word he didn't say and her eyes were drawn to a photo that was framed on the wall from their surprise engagement party. She wasn't normally interested in photos of herself but she'd always loved this one of her and Steve smiling gently at each other. They both looked so happy…

The ornaments in the room began to shake and Hermione's throat became constricted. She quickly shut her feelings down and blinked her tears away.

"No, it's OK," Steve whispered. "Let yourself go."

The objects in the room started to tremble again as Steve tenderly cupped her face with his hands, and looked intently into her eyes.

 _If I let go, I'll be broken._

Steve felt pained at the trembling voice in his head. It was so unlike the confident, strong woman he loved.

"Hermione, sweetheart, if you try and keep this all locked up, you're going to destroy yourself," he pointed out. "I could hear it in your thoughts."

She didn't look too happy that he was turning her own thoughts against her but she didn't release her grip on his t-shirt.

 _I can't_.

"Yes, you can," he promised gently. "I know you don't want to feel it and you don't want anyone to see how much it hurts, but you have to. Cry, scream, blow things up if you want to – I've seen you do it all before so you don't have to be brave for my sake."

She stared at him, too scared to move.

"Let me hold your heart," Steve murmured, kissing her forehead with a feather touch. Her eyes fluttered and she gripped his arms. "Let me bring you back to the world. Let me bring you home," he soothed, moving his hands to the small of her back so he could kiss each cheek as he spoke. Hermione trembled violently as tears began to fall from her eyes and Steve planted a final kiss just below the hollow of her neck. "Let me mend your broken soul."

Hermione felt his words hit home. She had been trying so hard to keep it together but she knew Steve was right; she _was_ already broken – and in so many ways too. She finally let her fractured spirit shatter away and she collapsed against him with a gut-wrenched sob. Every thought and feeling that she'd kept repressed since waking up on Sanctuary coursed through her. She cried for the utter loneliness she'd experienced, the physical pain she'd endured and the many mental manipulations Thanos had inflicted on her. She screamed for what Jarra and the other victims had suffered at her hand just so that she would live a little longer, and also for the destruction those actions had undoubtedly wrought on her soul. She sobbed for the torment her loved ones had been through because of her, even though she knew it wasn't her fault. She mourned the loss of the woman she had once been and the implications that had for her relationship with the person she loved more than anyone. The tears kept coming because, although it had started to sink in that she was finally back where she belonged, there was the realisation that there was the potential to lose everyone all over again…

Steve held her throughout it all. The onslaught of thoughts and feelings he was getting from Hermione was too great to make any sense of and he was glad for this; the general feeling of pain and sorrow he was getting from her was more than enough to give him a glimpse of what she'd been through. He simply stroked her back and whispered reassuringly to her whilst ignoring the tell-tale noises that signified that her magic was finding explosive releases too. When her legs gave way after a couple of minutes, he scooped her into his arms and held her protectively until she eventually began to calm down.

Hermione looked up at him with red, puffy eyes and opened her mouth to speak.

"Don't even think of apologising," he warned, sensing the unwarranted guilt rolling off of her.

Her lips closed momentarily but then she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. "Thank you," she breathed. Her touch and the closeness of her voice sent a shiver through his body. Gently, he placed her back on the floor and she removed her embrace. The combined movements caused a piece of paper to fall out of his jacket. Hermione instinctively picked it up and held it out to him.

"Actually, it's yours," he replied, pushing the letter back to her. Hermione opened it curiously and read the first couple of lines before looking up him questioningly. "Writing to you was one of the ways I tried to cope," he explained.

Hermione's eyes teared up again at his words so she glanced down at the letter and saw a phrase that made her heart clench painfully. She looked up at him with wide eyes. "You wrote to me every day?" she asked in a choked voice.

Steve was desperately trying to gauge how she felt but he was somewhat clueless, so he simply nodded and replied, "I started on the third day you were missing."

Steve watched warily as she wordlessly looked back at the letter again. When she met his gaze, the anguish he saw left him utterly perplexed and a little scared. "Hermione, I… What, what's," he spluttered.

"I'm not the person you wrote to, Steve" she stated shakily. "I'm not the same anymore; I'm _broken,_ "she sobbed, "And, and _damaged._ " Steve's heart was beating rapidly in his chest and he took a step forward to comfort her but she put a hand up to keep him away. "I've done some _terrible_ things," she claimed, her sorrow causing tears to flow quickly down her cheeks. "And I'm not worthy of your love!"

"Don't you ever say that!" he said sharply, almost angrily, appalled that she should think that for even a moment.

"You don't know what I've done!" she retorted emotively.

"Then _tell_ me," he begged, attempting again to comfort her physically but she shied away. "Help me understand; I, I can't bear to see you like this."

"I _can't,_ " she crouched down and held her hands to her head as though she could hide from both the past and present. How could she tell Steve about killing a child with her own hands? She opened her eyes and saw the very same hands right in front of her. Her stomach twisted and she dashed to the bathroom to heave into the toilet basin. She felt Steve hold back her hair and rub her back.

"I'm sorry," he muttered faintly, shocked and disgusted with himself for causing her violent reaction. "I'm so sorry. I- I don't want to pressure you into something you're not ready for."

Hermione conjured a glass with water and cleaned out her mouth before flushing the toilet. She slumped against the wall of the bathroom and drew her knees up to her chest. Steve sat opposite her, leaning against the bath.

Hermione stared at her glass of water. "I don't know what happened to the ring," she murmured and then she said something that caused Steve to feel like someone was squeezing his heart into pulp, "We don't have to be engaged anymore. I release you from any obligations you feel like you have to me."

There was a vague hissing in his head as though his brain was rejecting what he'd heard. " _No_."

"Steve," she began but he cut her off.

"No, don't you _dare_ insinuate that my love for you is so superficially inclined," he replied lowly, "As if I would desert you when you need me the most. We've been apart for a long time but, if your memory is only that of a relationship that could survive in fair-weather, then you're insulting everything I thought we shared together."

Tears were leaking out of the corners of her closed eyes.

"To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part," Steve said solemnly. "I was robbed of saying those words by a matter of minutes but, in my heart and before God, I was, and therefore _still am_ , very much committed to that vow. You're not getting rid of me, Hermione."

She buried her face in her knees and Steve watched her shoulders lightly shake as a disconcerting feeling crept into his gut. "Do – do you still love me?" he said anxiously. He didn't think he'd ever asked a more terrifying question and he didn't breathe as he awaited her response.

She raised her head sharply but to Steve it felt like everything was moving in slow motion. "Yes," she replied faintly, "Of course."

He nearly sagged in relief.

"But I just need time," she added.

Steve nodded. "I understand." And he did. He knew they couldn't just jump back to the way things used to be; Hermione was in no sort of state for that. He would take his cues from her. Whatever step she was ready for, he would be there to meet her. "Do you want me to leave you alone?" he asked. The very idea of being away from her so soon after being reunited killed him a little but he had to respect her boundaries.

Hermione's eyes widened with a look of faint terror at the suggestion that she be on her own and she shook her head. "No. Will you stay with me?"

"For as long as you need me to," he promised.

* * *

A/N Steve and Hermione's scene together was heavily influenced by the song, 'Brave' by The Shires, and even borrows a couple of lines from the lyrics. If you've never heard it, check it out, it's such a beautiful song!

If any of you are well-versed in your MCU timeline, you'll know that I'm a bit out with my accuracy because GotG originally takes place only a few months after Winter Soldier. Do you remember when I took out some time from the MCU after Iron Man 3 and brought everything (Thor 2 etc.) forward six months? Well, I put the six months back after Winter Soldier and pushed GotG back a while. We are now in late April 2015.

Speaking of GotG, I saw Vol.2 the other day and all I have to say is BABY FRICKIN' GROOT!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter - this one means a lot to me. So, if you have any thoughts about it - or Vol. 2 - let me know.

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Hey guys! Thank you for all your lovely messages about the last chapter :) For some reason, didn't send out the alerts properly last time so some you might not know that chapter 2 was posted a few weeks ago. If that's you, go back and read it!

This chapter contains a couple of spoilers from the early seasons of Agents of SHIELD (which I do not own!) just to warn you.

* * *

Getting a medical examination had mostly been Maria's idea. Hermione could understand Hill's caution because _any_ employee of S.H.I.E.L.D who reappeared after being held captive for eighteen months would be subjected to a number of tests – let alone one who'd been in outer space. Apparently, S.H.I.E.L.D didn't exist anymore (or at least not in the same capacity) but Hill was now an important part of overseeing the Avengers' missions and she called a lot of the shots in terms of the team's welfare. Considering the nasty poison Thanos had left hidden inside her body without her knowledge, Hermione was relatively happy to get herself checked out – as long as it was conducted by the right person.

For obvious reasons, she could hardly turn to a healer to pass her fit but there was also the fear of what the magical community would make of her wandless magic. There had never been someone as magically capable as far as Hermione knew and she had no desire to share that information any time soon. In the muggle world, she had only trusted a very small number of physicians to examine her. Most of those were no longer affiliated with S.H.I.E.L.D so tracking them down would be a little difficult – especially with HYDRA lurking in plain sight. Therefore, Hermione and Maria settled on the lead medical expert on Coulson's team: Jemma Simmons. Hermione was very relieved to hear that their team was mostly intact after S.H.I.E.L.D's downfall and were still covertly working on missions.

"They've been kept very busy," Maria said dryly and Hermione suspected that a number of interesting tales lurked within but, curious as she was, she knew she had more than enough on her own plate that she needed to concentrate on.

Just waking up earlier that morning was a whirlwind of sensations because she had finally fully accepted that she was not dreaming her return to Earth. There was great joy, of course, but then a realisation that she was going to have to struggle through a painful recovery to rebuild her relationships with her friends. However, the first thing she would need to rebuild was her bedroom because her magic had found even more chaotic ways to release itself when she was asleep – despite the dreamless sleep potion she'd taken. There were deep gouges in the walls, not a single piece of furniture was intact and there were scorch marks on the floor and bed. Even Steve was sporting a couple of cuts and bruises where her magic had unintentionally lashed out at him in the middle of the night. Hermione was quite mortified but Steve said it was a small price to pay if it reassured her that she wasn't alone.

Steve had wanted to accompany her for the examination but Hermione didn't want to worry him with how much her body had been experimented on. Not to mention that he looked like he could do with some sleep without her magic accidentally attacking him.

Maria was talking to someone via video link when Hermione entered her office so she paused in the doorway. Maria waved her in as Hermione heard a familiar voice say, "You know how tight security is here – I'll need to know more about this asset before I let them enter the Playground."

Maria grinned. "Of course. This should be enough to convince you."

Hermione stood next to Maria and smiled fondly as she watched a range of emotions sweep across Coulson's face. Judging by the length of time it was taking him to form a response, Hermione assumed that her secret-keeping spell had kept him in the dark all this time. In the wake of S.H.I.E.L.D's downfall, it had been impossible to get hold of Coulson to tell him she was all right.

"Permission granted," he eventually said softly.

"You'll clear the medi-lab to give Hermione privacy?" Maria checked.

"Absolutely," he agreed, "Only myself and Simmons will know. Give me ten minutes."

"See you soon," Hermione promised.

True to his word, only the two of them were waiting to greet her when she apparated into the medical facility of Coulson's latest secret S.H.I.E.L.D base. After hugging her tightly and welcoming her back, Coulson informed her that he'd be waiting outside to give her some privacy.

Jemma also embraced her. "I'm so glad you're finally back!" she enthused as Coulson left the room. "I was so worried about you, Hermione."

"You knew I was gone? You knew who I was?"

"When HYDRA attacked, I locked myself in a room that was still capable of communications. I heard your broadcast with Captain America, condemning HYDRA, but no one else did. I noticed that, after that, no one really knew who you were anymore – not even Coulson. I thought I was going mad but whenever I tried to talk about you to someone, I physically couldn't form the words. That's how I knew it was part of your magic."

"Sorry. That was never my intention."

"That's all right," Jemma reassured, "It was almost exciting to know something no one else did." While she'd been talking, Jemma had managed to sit Hermione on a bed and hook her up to a couple of machines without her really noticing.

"I would have visited you all months and months ago but… things got a little out of my control." Jemma stilled her movements at Hermione's understatement. "I should warn you that I'm not particularly sure what you'll find. My captor didn't share the details of the ways he experimented on me. Not to mention that the technology is, well, _alien_." Jemma's eyes were wide but compassionate so Hermione forged ahead before her own emotions got too unsettled – any equipment she accidentally broke in here with her magic probably couldn't be fixed with a simple _reparo_. "He kept one nasty surprise left behind that has, I think, been neutralised. I just want you to reassure me that my body is healthy and not a threat to myself or anyone else."

Jemma nodded and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I understand." She moved to turn on a couple of computers and the screens wavered and flickered.

Hermione swallowed tightly. "My magic has been enhanced as well," she said quickly. "I'll try to stop it interfering but it's sometimes difficult to control."

"Well, let's see how we get on," Jemma said gently.

It was not an easy process. Hermione's magic was _very_ interfering, even when she tried her best to tone it down. They took a break when Hermione started to get frustrated after a few minutes and Jemma told her about her infiltration work at a HYDRA facility.

"I'd never done a mission in the field like that before," Jemma told her. "I kept asking myself, 'What would Hermione do?' which, I admit, wasn't always helpful because I didn't have magic as an option!"

Hermione looked at her in surprise. "Why didn't you use other members of your team as inspiration?"

"I missed the people back here so much that it was too painful to think of them and I wasn't going to channel my inner-Ward even if I _was_ pretending to work for HYDRA! Besides, I had to keep the idea of 'Hermione the Sorceress' alive when no-one else was able to remember you that way."

Hermione was deeply touched by her words but, before she could express her gratitude, Jemma let out a noise of triumph when she glanced at a monitor. "We're finally getting somewhere." Unbeknownst to Hermione, Jemma had kept the scanners working while they talked and it seemed her magic had lessened its protectiveness enough for something to be picked up.

They explored the images together and Hermione explained any modifications she knew about – such as the translator – and how the magic centred around her spine must be preventing clear visuals from that part of her body. She could see that Jemma was clearly fascinated by what she saw.

"Fitz would love to see all of this," she breathed, her eyes focused on an incredibly slender device that almost looked like an internal breastplate.

Her bloodwork was also fascinating to Jemma as Hermione explained that she was supposed to have increased durability and stamina.

"But there's nothing dangerous, is there?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"A full analysis would take far longer to make sure but, if there _was_ , do you not think you would have experienced side effects by now?" Jemma pointed out.

"I suppose…"

"To be honest, I don't know what we'd find hiding in your system; you've travelled across the galaxy! Some strange substances are bound to have entered into your system – substances that I don't expect to be able to identify. And let's not even mention that your biological makeup is possibly different because of your magic anyway." This wasn't particularly helpful or reassuring and Jemma sensed her frustration. "I know that's not entirely what you wanted to hear but I am reasonably confident in stating that your body is physically fit."

Hermione nodded. At least there was one box that could be ticked off.

"But there's not a physician in the world who would pass you as mentally fit," Jemma continued gently, which was absolutely no surprise to Hermione. "It's not my area of expertise but it would be my recommendation that you start therapy sessions as soon as possible, so you can start to work through your trauma."

"Trauma?" Hermione repeated faintly and let out a bitter laugh. "Is it that obvious?"

"There are a number of people I could recommend," Jemma said, avoiding the question.

Hermione didn't even bother to explain that talking to someone about her life experiences wasn't quite that simple for her. She couldn't talk to a muggle about her magic and she couldn't expect a witch or wizard to understand her life with the Avengers. "Thank you," she said instead. Jemma paused in her writing, hearing the bleakness in her voice, but then carried on.

"I will be making that recommendation explicitly clear to Maria Hill in my report and don't think that I won't find a way to check on whether you're going through with it or not." The tone of Jemma's voice was much firmer than Hermione had ever heard from her and her sweet demeanour became much steelier. "I may be your friend but, if you've come to me seeking medical advice, then it's my duty to ensure you are getting the treatment you need. I didn't keep the memory of 'Hermione Granger, the Sorceress' alive these past eighteen months to give up on her now."

* * *

"I was about to say that you look like you could do with a break but I forgot that reading is like crack to you," Tony greeted. Hermione glanced up from the tablet that she'd been perusing on the couch for most of the afternoon in order to begin to catch up on what she'd missed of important events in the world, and almost smiled at how pleasant it was to hear his teasing tone.

"I've missed a lot," she shrugged simply.

"I know – who'd have thought they'd find a way to confirm the existence of time travel," he responded.

"What?" she yelped in alarm, "I didn't see that!"

Tony smirked and Hermione paused before letting out a huff of annoyance. "Very funny," she muttered, chucking a cushion at him. He ducked out of its course so she redirected its flight to collide with the back of his head.

"Using your increased powers to do good, I see," he pointed out sarcastically, making a show of rubbing the point of impact.

"As always, you seem to bring out the worst in me," she said lightly.

He hesitated for a moment and then sat next to her and draped an arm around her shoulder. "I'm glad to see that hasn't changed," he said, giving her a light squeeze.

Hermione was deeply touched by his actions and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you for not giving up on me and, more importantly, for watching out for Steve," she told him seriously. "It makes me feel slightly better to know he had a good friend like you to support him."

"Don't mention it," Tony said with a wave of his hand as he got up and headed off to pour himself a drink. "Seriously, you know I hate sentimental crap and this is pretty much my limit."

Hermione rolled her eyes at his retreating figure but duly changed the topic of conversation to the mainly negative news stories she'd read over the last few hours. Her morning meeting had ended soon after she'd promised Jemma she'd find someone qualified with whom to talk through her experiences with. Coulson seemed eager to talk to her but requested to do so at a later date because he and his team had a pressing issue to deal with elsewhere. After promising to visit him again soon, Hermione had apparated back to Avengers Tower to inform Maria and Steve of Jemma's findings. Neither of them looked surprised at what she had to say but they both offered her encouraging words and smiles.

"You might want to take yourself off to this location," Steve murmured, handing over a piece of paper when they had left Maria's office. Hermione looked at him quizzically after glancing at the coordinates. "You'll see for yourself once you get there," he added and then turned away.

Hermione wasn't sure what to expect when she apparated to the remote location but the sight of her best friend was as wonderful a surprise as she could imagine. Her embrace with Harry was probably the longest and most emotional they'd ever shared.

Hermione was careful to position her body so that she didn't make skin to skin contact and scare him by broadcasting her thoughts. She would have warned him about her unstable magic but Harry had rushed forwards and enveloped her in his arms before she got the chance.

"I can't believe it," he kept whispering and Hermione felt her emotions swirl at the relief in his voice and the way he gripped her tightly. She tried to focus on just one emotion; the joy she felt at seeing him again. After all, it was something she'd recently believed impossible.

"You scared me so much," he muttered and pulled away to look at her – as though to double check she was really there. The tears in her eyes were matched with his and she brushed hers away so that she could study him closely and drink in the sight of him.

She smoothed his hair fondly. "You look tired," she teased.

He chuckled. "Yeah, that kind of comes with the territory when you've got a six month old son."

Hermione gaped at him and then shrieked, holding a hand to her mouth as her eyes welled up again. Harry grinned as he watched her. "You finally have a family!" she choked out, aware that it was all he had ever wanted. She hugged him again and tried very hard to stop herself sobbing onto his shoulder. "Oh, Harry, that's _wonderful_."

"Thank you," he replied. "I can't wait for you to meet James."

"James?" she repeated with a squeak.

"James Sirius Potter," Harry confirmed proudly, causing Hermione to let loose another emotion-filled shriek. There was a series of popping noises above them and the air was suddenly filled with sparkly confetti that fell gently down to the wooded clearing they were standing in. Hermione glanced at Harry, worried about what he would say when she told him about her wandless magic.

Harry's eyes were bemused as he took in the confetti but, when his gaze swept over her empty hands and horrified expression, he frowned. "Hermione?"

It had taken a few moments and deep breaths to inform Harry about the fusing of the wand core to her spine. She knew Harry would always support her but she was worried about his reaction nonetheless.

His eyes were wide as she described how the unwanted procedure had nearly killed her and how, although she was able to perform all her spells wandlessly, it was now quite difficult to prevent accidental magic.

Harry ran a hand through his hair and Hermione felt her gut clench painfully at his fearful expression.

"You're… scared?" she questioned timidly.

"Yes," he sighed but quickly clarified when he saw the devastation on her face, " _For_ you, not _of_ you." Hermione nearly sagged in relief. "But if this ever gets out, people are going to be terrified of you and that will lead to all kinds of trouble."

She nodded and her throat constricted tightly. She knew if _she_ heard of someone who was so magically-powerful, she would be wary and suspicious of their motives.

" _Fear leads to anger_ ," she muttered, " _Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering_."

Harry looked at her quizzically. "Who said that? Dumbledore?"

"Yoda," she replied and Harry couldn't hold back a snort, which made Hermione smile despite the situation.

"Oh, Hermione," he sighed, pulling her in for another hug. "And I used to think that trouble always found _me_."

For what felt like the tenth time in the last twelve hours, Hermione began to cry as she talked to Harry about her ordeal without going into any details. Her emotions had become steadier as she talked but when she revealed how her relationship with Steve had been deeply compromised, she began to struggle again. Harry tried to soothe her worries the best he could and urged her to have faith in herself and those around her.

"I know it's not quite the same but Ginny and I had to start again after the Battle of Hogwarts," Harry pointed out. "What happened during our months apart changed us both and we couldn't recover the same relationship we'd once had. But what exists between us now is far stronger than what we'd had before. It'll take some time but I have no doubt you'll get there too," he promised.

They walked and talked for a while longer about what Hermione had missed in the Wizarding world and she listened to the details of his wedding and James' birth. Harry had even suggested that she come back to stay in the UK for a few days to give her a bit of a break from the superhero lifestyle. Hermione wanted to spend more time with her magical friends and meet baby James but she was also fearful of her wandless magic being exposed before she had it more under control. Instead, she told Harry that she would be in contact with Kingsley shortly and would visit him then.

"Remember; whatever you need, I'm here for you," Harry vowed.

Since that meeting, Hermione had sent another message to her Guardians that she was OK (after sending two the previous night to confirm that all was as Fandral had said. She'd tried to convince Quill to join her but he had waved her off, promising – though she didn't believe him – that they'd come back another time) and then she'd been exploring a report J.A.R.V.I.S had made for her about significant events that had occurred in her absence. Steve had sat with her through most of it so she could question him further and put the events into context. After a few hours, he'd gone for a walk but Hermione had declined his invitation to join him because she was fearful of doing accidental magic in public.

She glanced at her watch and saw that Steve had been gone for well over an hour. She hoped she hadn't bored him…

Twenty minutes later when Tony and J.A.R.V.I.S had kept her amused with lighter and funnier news stories, the rest of her friends appeared, as well as Steve, their arms laden with all of her favourite snacks and drinks and six large pizzas from her favourite pizzeria in the city. They laughed at her excited expression as she eagerly took handfuls of different crisps, sweets and chocolates and helped herself to a slice from each pizza box.

"You guys are the best!" she murmured after swallowing a mouthful of pepperoni.

It was an enjoyable evening as Hermione determined not to let her ordeal stop her from filling her life with happy memories once again. Pepper arrived thirty minutes into the feast and amused everyone with her confused and euphoric reaction to seeing Hermione and realising that she was the Sorceress.

When most people had eaten their fill, it was decided that they would watch a movie that Hermione had missed out on. This caused a very long debate about which film was to be chosen. Hermione vetoed any options that featured space, aliens or other links to her ordeal. At this announcement, the conversation ceased and Hermione realised that they didn't really know what had happened to her. She could share a little of what she'd been through, couldn't she? She'd done the same with Harry only a few hours ago…

"Um, in time, I will give you more details when I feel like I'm ready to share them," she forced herself to say. "But for now, I want you to know a little of what happened to me because if the situation was reversed, I think I'd be going crazy withholding my questions." She looked up and saw a few understanding smiles. "The reason for my abduction was to adapt me and use my abilities to create a powerful assassin who would loyally serve a particularly dangerous and power-obsessed being named Thanos." The name felt weird on her lips here but she forged ahead, determined to get to the end, and missed a few knowing looks that were shared amongst some of her friends. "After a long time resisting his schemes, I was subjected to physical and emotional torture that was designed to programme me to his cause." A shudder of revulsion ran through her as an image of Jarra flashed before her eyes along with the sickening recollection of the pleasurable sensations Thanos would emit from her bracelet. The lights flickered around them and Hermione forced out a couple of calming breaths. Steve grabbed her hand while the others stared at her wordlessly. "I knew I would never allow that to happen and I thought Earth had been destroyed, so I decided to play along until I could stop Thanos for good. It took a long time to convince him and," she gulped and gripped Steve's hand tightly as the items on the table began to shake, "I… I had to do things to prove my loyalty that will haunt me for the rest of my life."

Pepper's stifled sob broke Hermione's inner reflection and she forged on. "Thanos liked to experiment on his subjects and this led to my increased wandless magic capabilities. Eventually, he trusted me enough to send me away to gain experience of the wider galaxy on the spaceship of one of his allies. But I made an ally of my own there who hated Thanos just as much as I did. Together, we managed to get away from the ship and, after a series of bizarre and dangerous events where we made some more friends, we managed to earn our freedom. I wanted to go to Asgard to see Thor and sound out the possibility of him helping me take down Thanos, and my friends wanted the reward for returning me." She smiled as recalled Rocket and Quill's obsession with money. "And that's how I got back here. So, I just want to take the opportunity to thank you all for your support – both now and when you were trying to find me. I love each and every one of you so much," she told them earnestly, looking at each of her friends in turn, and then added quickly upon seeing the forced look on Tony's face, "and I don't care if that makes you uncomfortable because I thought I'd never see you again. I feel like I've been given another opportunity at my life and I want you to know how much you mean to me. I know it's not going to be easy for me to get back in the swing of things but, with you all by my side, I know I can do it."

Pepper initiated a round of heartfelt hugs. "Oh, Hermione, I can't believe what you've been through!" she said tearfully as she embraced her tightly. "It's so wonderful that you're back and safe now. I want you to know that I love you too."

"You make the Other Guy look like a weakling," Bruce joked, wrapping his arms around her. "It's been a long time since I've heard the L-word," he said softly as he pulled away with a grateful smile. "But it's definitely returned."

"Mei-mei, you're an inspiration, I love you too," Clint said and held her so tightly that he actually picked her up off her feet as he swung her gently from side to side.

"It would have been my honour to support you in your endeavour, Hermione," Thor said warmly. "Love amongst friends creates a bond that can never be broken."

"Is it weird to say that I'm proud of you?" Natasha queried when she stood before her.

Hermione pondered that. "I don't think so. I doubt I would've been able to get through the last eighteen months if I hadn't had your training."

Natasha frowned. "I never wanted you to go through something like that. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Hermione pointed out.

Natasha nodded and embraced her. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

Natasha stilled before taking a deep breath and saying quietly, "I love you."

Hermione felt her heart warm at the gesture, knowing how difficult it would have been for Natasha to voice even platonic feelings.

Tony frowned at her. "You're pretty smart so it's not like you don't already know; does it really need to be said out loud?"

"Not if you don't want to," she replied simply.

"I told you; I don't do this sentimental stuff."

"I know."

Tony sighed and put down his glass before embracing her gently. "God, you went through some shit, kid. I'm sorry we couldn't find you to bring you home sooner."

Hermione wrapped her arms around his middle and leant her head against his chest as she made the most of this rare, heartfelt moment with him. "That's all right. I know you did all you could. There's no way you would've been able to compete with their technology anyway. We're so far behind."

"Well, that's depressing," he murmured.

"Sorry," she replied. "But at least I've got plenty of borrowed inventions for Stranger Enterprises to get to work on."

"That _is_ good news," he agreed. "I've been in a bit of a slump without you."

There was a slight pause. "I love you," she said softly.

"You've already said that," he reminded her and he pulled away from her embrace.

"I felt like you needed to hear it again," she explained, not at all sorry.

He sighed in exasperation. "Fine, I love you too. Are you happy now?" He noticed the others looking at him – some with disapproval – and he toned down the sarcasm. "Granger," he said quietly, turning both of them around so he couldn't see the others, "You mean a lot to me, kid, and I know that you know that but..." He paused and looked her dead in the eye. "I love you too."

Hermione smiled and kissed his cheek, before retaking her seat on the coach next to Steve.

"I love you so much," he told her gently.

It felt different coming from Steve and her heart fluttered in a way it hadn't done in many months. She put a hand to his cheek and he closed his eyes at her touch.

 _I love you, Steve_.

She touched her lips to his for just a second, not trusting her control of her emotions for any longer than that, but let him _feel_ the strength of her love for him for the first time.

He looked at her in awe. "Wow," he breathed.

* * *

"Good morning, Ms Granger and Captain Rogers," J.A.R.V.I.S announced to the darkness of their room. Hermione open her eyes instantly and slightly brightened the room's lights so she could assess what damage her magic had done overnight. The room had suffered much the same as the previous night but, glancing at Steve, she saw that her protective ward had saved him any new injuries.

"Good morning, J.A.R.V.I.S," she replied as Steve sat up next to her. "What's going on?"

"Maria Hill is requesting the presence of the Avengers at once," J.A.R.V.I.S replied.

"What time is it?" Steve asked, his voice a little hoarse on account of his recent waking.

"Four twenty-six."

"We'll be there in a minute," Hermione told J.A.R.V.I.S and performed a series of switching and dressing spells without even really thinking about it. Steve blinked at her.

"Wow, that was fast," he muttered, walking over to the closet and pulling down some clean clothes. When he turned around, the room had also been restored to its previous immaculate state and Hermione had moved into the adjoining bathroom to quickly freshen up.

"Did I accidentally throw you out of bed last night?" she asked, her voice distorted by the brushing of her teeth.

"Only a few times," he replied good naturedly. Her brushing paused and she walked into the room with a look of concern. "It's _fine_ ," he insisted, "I'd much rather sleep in here with you and your unpredictable magic than in a room on my own."

Hermione returned to the sink and resumed her brushing but she watched him pensively, trying to come up with a solution.

A few seconds later, they walked together to join with the others. Most of the evidence of their feast from the previous night had disappeared but Thor was tucking into three cold slices of pizza piled on top of each other as he waited for the meeting to begin.

"The melodies from those songs have been repeating in my mind all evening," Thor announced as people gradually joined him on the couch. "I have a very strong desire to build a snowman even though such icy conditions make me think of Jotunheim."

Hermione smiled. After her revelation of her ordeal, there was still plenty of debate about a suitable film to watch but they had finally settled on _Frozen_. It was not a universally popular choice but when Clint pointed out that it was the third highest grossing film of all time and was a cultural phenomenon, Hermione declared that she wanted to see it and the decision was made.

Maria walked towards them and all conversation ceased.

"We have received information on the likely location of Loki's sceptre," she announced, immediately gaining everyone's full attention. The sceptre had been missing since well before Hermione had even been abducted. Such a powerful and influential device could cause chaos if it was in the wrong hands so everyone knew how vitally important it was to get it back.

Unfortunately, the sceptre had fallen into HYDRA's hands and was located in an extremely well-defended research base in Sokovia.

"All right, this had been a long time coming," Steve said, getting to his feet and the others did the same. "Tony, how quick can we be on our way?"

"Airborne in twenty," he replied.

Steve opened his mouth to give the order to suit up but he stopped short when he looked at Hermione. "Oh…" He looked over at Maria and then back to Hermione.

"Maybe it would be better if you sat this one out, Hermione?" Maria suggested. Her tone wasn't at all rude but it also conveyed that it was the only sensible option.

Hermione bit her lip. She was somewhat of an emotional and psychological mess at the moment and there was no point in denying it. But the idea of staying behind… "Have you got plans of the research base?" she requested. Maria frowned but handed over basic plans of a fortress, explaining that HYDRA would have made numerous alterations and upgrades.

"It shouldn't be a very difficult operation," Maria added.

"But what if it is?" Hermione countered. "What if something happens and I'm not there to help? I can't just sit here and wait for them to come back."

"Hermione, I don't think you're ready," Maria argued. "You've been through an incredibly awful ordeal and your return to Earth – which happened less than thirty-six hours ago – caused you an enormous emotional upheaval. I'm sorry but your instability might put others in danger."

Hermione tried not to react too much to her words. "Believe me, Maria, nobody is more aware of that than I am. But I want to get back in the field and, as you said, this shouldn't be a difficult operation. Isn't it better that I start off with something small before something much bigger and scarier comes along and you find out you really _do_ need me?"

Maria put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "I still don't like it but I'm not the one who would be put it danger with you." She looked at the Avengers. " _They_ can decide whether you join them or not."

* * *

A/N Will they let Hermione go to Sokovia or not? Tune in next time to find out!

I make no apologies for the somewhat-soppy scene between the Avengers earlier on. I fully believe Hermione would have shared her feelings after returning from her ordeal and her friends would have to be rather cold-hearted not to return them. I am also not sorry for getting them to watch Frozen! If you take out the Harry Potter and Marvel films from the list, Frozen would have been the third highest grossest film at that time. Also, I would pay money to force some of those characters to sit through that particular film!

As you have read, we are right at the start of Age of Ultron so I need to remind you all that I DO NOT own anything in the MCU. Sob!

Lil Drop of Magic


	4. Chapter 4

Hi guys! Thanks for all the ways you support this series :)

* * *

Steve watched Hermione nervously run her fingers along the sleeve seam of her new Sorceress suit as the Quinjet powered them quickly towards Sokovia and the HYDRA research base headed by a Baron Strucker.

"What do you think?" he asked. His own suit received an update every few months to ensure it had the latest designs to give him as much assistance as possible in combat, and he'd made sure that Hermione's suit got the same treatment so that it was ready for her when she came back. This latest upgrade had provided her with full-length sleeves and a more flexible breastplate. Steve had seen to it that the cape was dropped from future designs after the debacle at the Triskelion so she had been given an intricate, white mask that covered her upper face in order to protect her identity.

"I like it," she replied, pushing the mask up to rest on top of her head like a headband. "It feels weird to actually be the 'Sorceress' again but it's nice, too. I see we still have matching colour schemes though," she added wryly.

"I _insisted_ ," Steve answered with a grin, causing her to laugh. He was glad that he was able to keep her distracted from her first op back on Earth. The decision to have Hermione join them wasn't a particularly difficult one for the team; if she wanted to come, they weren't going to stop her.

Not long after, they were preparing to put their plan into action. Most of the team were to be based in the forest to draw the attention of the enemy soldiers while Tony and Hermione searched for the sceptre in the fortress. As the quinjet's ramp lowered, Hermione nodded once to Steve before she disappeared in front of his eyes to begin her assault. He sincerely hoped that everything went to script because he knew how critical she'd be of herself if anything went awry…

"Tony, I'm going to give the fortress and the city a quick circuit," Hermione said as she flew into the wintry Sokovian afternoon. "I've engaged the device on my mask so hopefully you'll be getting a visual."

There were a few seconds of silence as she soared over the treetops of the forest that led onto the city and then Tony replied, "I'm getting _something_ but it's not clear. I think your magic's interfering too much." Hermione frowned as she tried to rectify the flow of her magic, fly and take in her surroundings all at the same time. "Wait – I got it!" Tony said, sounding pleased. "That's a nifty bit of tech if I say so myself."

"Of course you do," she muttered, knowing that he was the one who had designed it.

While she scouted the area, the others moved out and began to attack the perimeter of HYDRA's defences. It soon became apparent to Steve that the weapons the HYDRA soldiers were using were highly advanced, but they were still no match for the combined power of the Avengers. Stranger still, some of the soldiers were wearing impressive technology that gave them the ability to fly – not that this stopped Thor and Tony from bringing them back down to earth. Natasha had managed to commandeer a jeep and was plowing through the snowy forest, with Clint standing in the back, taking down the soldiers easily with his arrows. Hulk was living up to his usual standards and was carving a wave of destruction while Steve himself was weaving through the trees on a borrowed motorcycle.

"Tony, I'm going to work my way up from the lower levels of the fortress," Hermione said as she effortlessly stunned the guards at the first gate. "I'll meet you up the top."

"On my way," he replied, propelling himself over the treetops to aim for the main building of the facility. He violently crashed into something that protected the upper fortress. " _Shit!_ "

"Language!" Steve instinctively admonished.

"Great recon work, Granger," Tony muttered sarcastically.

"How am I supposed to notice an invisible shield?" she countered, spelling apart a long-range gun.

"J.A.R.V.I.S, what's the view from upstairs?" Steve asked, to break up the bickering.

"The central building _is_ protected by some kind of invisible barrier," J.A.R.V.I.S replied, using the technology from their satellite to scan the fortress. "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other HYDRA base we've come across."

"Loki's sceptre must be here," Thor put in as he continued to battle the soldiers. "Strucker couldn't mount this defence without it. At long last..."

"At long last is lasting a little long, guys," Natasha pointed out.

"Yeah," Clint agreed, "I think we lost the element of surprise!"

"Wait a minute," Tony interrupted. "No one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said, 'language'?"

"I know," Steve replied, a little embarrassed. He saw a jeep carrying soldiers speeding towards him and somersaulted off his motorcycle, but kept hold of the handles until the last moment. His momentum catapulted the bike at the jeep, causing it to flip over. "It just slipped out."

"Well, if I'm honest, I'm more surprised that it didn't come from Granger," Tony commented.

"I'm not," Natasha responded, "You didn't hear what she said to Alexander Pierce."

"What did she –" Multiple voices began to ask at once but Hermione cut across them.

"How about we focus on the task at hand?" she suggested. "Tony, I'm going to try and take down the shield. Can you deal with the rest of the long-range guns?"

"Fine, but don't think we're not revisiting your alleged potty mouth at a later point," Tony promised before homing in on the closest gun and giving it a couple of repulsor blasts.

"Sir, the city is taking fire," J.A.R.V.I.S informed him.

"Well, we know Strucker's not going to care about civilian casualties," Tony replied as he flew towards the next gun. "Send in the Iron Legion," he commanded, referring to his drone suits that were controlled by J.A.R.V.I.S, and he watched with satisfaction as the drones powered off into the city.

Hermione flew up to the central building and approached it gently with a wave of probing magic. The protective shield flickered when her spell made contact and she closed the distance to rest her hands against the force field. She sent out a more powerful, destructive spell and the shield splintered in front of her eyes.

"Tony, we're in," she told him as she glided forwards to deal with the HYDRA soldiers she could see on the ramparts.

"I'll be right up."

The rest of the team were very satisfied when they heard this because the wave of HYDRA soldiers wasn't showing any sign of stopping yet.

Clint rested behind a tree to shield himself from the weaponised bunker a few yards away. He loaded a choice arrow into his quiver and aimed carefully, waiting for the perfect time to release it. He fired and quickly ducked back behind the tree as he listened for the expected explosion. When a few seconds passed and nothing happened, he drew another arrow and aimed it once more at his target. Before he got the chance to release, something forcefully barged into him, knocking him to the ground. Clint scrambled quickly to his feet, looking for whatever had attacked him. A bleach blond young man wearing a tracksuit walked casually through the snow towards him.

"You didn't see that coming?" the youth asked with a strong Eastern European accent. Abruptly, he dashed away at incredible speed. Clint was so astounded by the kid, that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings and a blast from the bunker grazed the side of his torso with enough power to knock him down.

"Clint!" Natasha called, running over to him.

Steve turned, distracted by her yell, and something stormed past him knocking into his side. "We have an enhanced in the field," he warned everyone as he looked around for the assailant.

"Clint's hit," Natasha shared, dropping onto her knees next to Clint. The wide red hole in his side contrasted grimly with the snow he lay on as he grimaced in agony. She pulled out supplies to start treating his wound but kept having to duck out of the way of gunfire. "Somebody want to deal with that bunker?" she suggested. A familiar roar answered her as the Hulk thundered past, barrelling straight through the structure and the gunfire halted immediately. "Thank you."

"Do you need my help with Clint?" Hermione asked.

"He _is_ hit pretty bad," Natasha admitted, "We're going to need evac."

"The sooner we're gone the better. You and Stark secure the sceptre, Hermione, I'll get Barton to the jet and you can heal him afterwards," Thor offered.

"Copy that," Steve agreed, jogging over to the Asgardian. "I'll carry on to the fortress on foot."

"The enhanced?" Thor questioned.

"He's a blur," Steve replied and then shook his head. "All the new players we've faced, I've never seen this. In fact, I still haven't."

They noticed an oncoming group of HYDRA soldiers in front of a tank. "It looks like they're lining up," Thor commented casually as he adjusted his grip on Mjolnir.

"Well, they're excited," Steve replied, holding up his shield. Thor struck it powerfully and the reverberations threw the soldiers to the ground and destroyed the tank.

"Find the sceptre," Thor urged and took off.

"And for gosh sake, mind your language!" Tony mocked.

Steve sighed. "That's not going away anytime soon," he muttered before sprinting off to back up Hermione and Tony at the fortress.

Tony smashed through a window to enter the main control room and immediately came under a barrage of gunfire. "Guys, stop. We need to talk this through," he said unperturbed by the bullets that pinged against his suit. The shooters suddenly dropped unconscious to the floor and his suit picked up Granger's presence in the far corner.

"You're welcome," she said simply.

"Actually, I was about to make a trademark witty comment," he grumbled, walking into the room.

"I'm so sorry I missed that," she responded dryly as Tony stepped out of his suit and set it to sentry mode so that it was still active. She dropped her disillusionment spell, knowing that Tony couldn't see her outside of his suit.

"OK, J.A.R.V.I.S, you know I want it all," Tony muttered as he set up a device near the facility's biggest computers so that it would gather all their information. "Make sure you copy Hill at HQ."

"But where would they hide the sceptre?" Hermione asked, looking around.

"Hey, J, give me an IR scan of the room real quick," Tony ordered. The empty suit trained its scanner around the control room and a series of red lights showed the results of the infrared scan.

"The wall to your left," J.A.R.V.I.S replied, causing Hermione and Tony to head there at once. "I'm reading steel reinforcement and an air current."

Having studied at Hogwarts, Hermione knew straight away what the breeze signified and Tony looked at her excitedly.

"Please be a secret door," he muttered as his eyes raked over the wall, "Please be a secret door, please be a secret door!" He gave the wall a push and it duly moved aside. "Yay!"

As Hermione and Tony climbed down the secret passage, Steve reached the base of the fortress.

"We're locked down out here," Natasha said in his ear.

Steve paused for a moment to respond. "Then get to Banner," he instructed, "Time for a lullaby." He resumed his ascent of the fortress and came across someone going the other way.

"Baron Strucker," Steve acknowledged, "HYDRA's number one thug."

"Technically, I'm a thug for S.H.I.E.L.D," he argued lightly.

"Well, then technically you're unemployed," Steve pointed out. "Where's Loki's sceptre?"

"Don't worry, I know when I'm beat," he replied, "You'll mention how I cooperated, I hope?"

"I'll put it right under 'illegal human experimentation'," Steve answered. "How many are there?"

Something knocked Steve off his feet and he tumbled down a flight of stone steps. He just caught sight of a slender, pale young woman before she retreated from his view. Steve ran up the steps after her but she was gone. "We have a second enhanced," he warned the others. "Female. Do not engage."

"You're going to have to be faster than – " Strucker said but Steve interrupted him by kicking his shield into Strucker's chest, knocking him unconscious.

"Guys, I got Strucker," he said through the comm channel.

"Yeah," came Tony's reply as he and Hermione came to a vast room at the end of the tunnel, "We got… something bigger."

Hermione gaped as her eyes took in the chamber and its contents. A huge Chitauri leviathan body hung suspended from the ceiling, sending shivers up her spine as it looked like it could spring to life at any moment. On a variety of laboratory tables lay an assortment of other relics from New York and discarded parts of Iron Man suits. However, at the far end of the room, emitting the familiar bright blue glow, lay Loki's sceptre. Although she was pleased that their mission was to be a success, Hermione hated the very sight of it.

"Thor, we got eyes on the prize," Tony murmured, not looking away from the sceptre as they walked towards it.

Tony started with alarm as Hermione abruptly gasped and sunk to her knees. He made to step towards her but he sensed a movement behind him. Turning, he couldn't hold back a yell as the previously inanimate leviathan roared towards him. He stumbled away from it and saw that everything had changed. The fallen bodies of his team lay before him on a dark, rocky outcrop. Their stillness and unseeing eyes trapped the air in his lungs. Hermione's body lay closest and Tony knelt down to try and find a pulse, hoping that there was something he could salvage. She grabbed his arm and he flinched in shock.

"I warned you," she choked out, "You could've saved us." Her movements stilled and her eyes became glassy as a trickle of blood escaped her mouth. ' _Why didn't you do more?'_ her voice echoed in his mind. Tony stared down at her body in despair.

A bright light caught his attention and he looked up, unable to bear the sight of her for a moment longer. He knew where he was now. More leviathans soared over his head to accompany huge spacecraft that were all converging towards a portal in the darkness of the deep space above them – a portal to Earth…

As suddenly as it had come on, the vision disappeared and Tony saw that he was still in the hidden room in the fortress, feet away from the sceptre. Breathing heavily, he glanced over his shoulder and was relieved to see that the leviathan was very much immobile. Hermione was still huddled at his feet. He crouched down and saw that she wasn't at all present behind her eyes. He concluded that she was suffering through a vision too. He was so spooked from witnessing her death only a few seconds ago that he found he desperately needed her to respond to him. He grabbed her hands to try and shake her from her hallucination. But, the moment his hands touched hers, a terrifying screaming filled his mind and he let go of her at once.

" _Jesus_ ," he panted, holding a hand to his heart in an attempt to make it calm down. That unnatural, bone-chilling scream had been her voice, he was sure of that. He reached up to his comm device. "Cap, you need to get here _now_."

"What is it?" came Steve's reply.

"I think it's better if you see for yourself…"

* * *

The journey back to Avengers Tower was not as cheerful as everyone had hoped it would be. Despite Natasha's attempts to cheer him up, Bruce couldn't help but be retrospective about the Other Guy's deeds. His mood was not improved by Thor's well-meaning comment that the gates of Hel were filled with the cries of the Hulk's victims.

"Uh, but, not the screams of the dead, of course," Thor added quickly in response to Bruce's groan of despair. "No, uh… wounded screams, mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and, and, uh… gout."

"Hey, Banner," Tony called from the cockpit, "Dr Cho's on her way in from Seoul. Is it OK if she sets up in your lab?"

"Yeah," Bruce replied, "She knows her way around."

"Thanks," Tony replied. "Tell her to prep everything," he ordered J.A.R.V.I.S, "Barton's gonna need the full treatment."

Natasha looked over at Clint, relieved that her best friend was going to get the best care available. Ideally, Hermione would have healed him when she got back from the fortress but Natasha had quickly seen that wouldn't be possible. Natasha gave Bruce a last reassuring squeeze of his shoulder then walked over to where Steve was keeping Hermione under close scrutiny.

"How is she?" Natasha asked gently. Tony had explained that he believed Hermione was suffering from a harrowing hallucination. Nothing anyone said or did had managed to bring her out of her stupor which was worrying enough. However, this trauma was causing her magic to lash out unpredictably. Tony had suggested that they sedate her but Steve divulged that her magic would sometimes find release when she was asleep anyway. Not wanting to put the rest of the team in danger, Steve had considered staying behind in Sokovia with her until the effects wore off but Tony had suggested placing her in the jet's holding cell instead. The state-of-the art cell was holding up so far but cracks were starting to appear in the protective casing.

Steve sighed. "So far, no change. She just sits there."

A bright flash emanated from the cell but this had happened so many times that neither Steve nor Natasha even flinched.

"What the…?" Steve gasped. Something red was dripping down into the cell.

"It's raining blood," Natasha murmured, feeling more than a little disconcerted as she watched it coat Hermione's hair and trickle down her face.

There was another flash and then the pair of them stood back in alarm as Hermione suddenly stood staring at them from behind the glass.

Her body shuddered. "S-Steve?" she called timidly, looking scared and confused.

"Thank God," he muttered, quickly keying in the code to unlock the door. He pulled her trembling form into his arms and muttered reassuringly to her. Natasha turned away, not wanting to intrude, and quietly informed the others that Hermione had broken out of her trance.

"It wasn't real," Steve told Hermione over and over until she began to calm down. Flashes of her apparition would appear in his mind and he could easily understand why she was so traumatised: a war, the likes of which even _he_ had not witnessed, had played out in her brain as the inhabitants of Earth (both with magic and without) had battled for their survival against an alien attack led by a huge being with purple skin. She'd seen everyone she knew suffer and die and, worst of all, she was convinced it was all her own fault.

"We got the sceptre," he told her, attempting to distract her with a slight change of subject. "The mission was a success and we're on our way home. Everything's going to be fine." Her sticky head lifted away from his chest and she peered tentatively around the jet, her eyes pausing on the distinctive blue glow.

Tony walked past at that exact moment and his eyes widened. "Holy Carrie!" he said.

Hermione looked down at herself and, for the first time, noticed the blood she was covered in. She let out a horrified gasp.

"It's fine," Steve reassured quickly. "You somehow made it rain blood, that's all."

She shakily got to her knees and performed _scourgify_ all over herself. Tony nodded. "Yeah, that's less terrifying now."

"What happened?" she asked, approaching the sceptre cautiously.

Tony noted her apprehension. "It wasn't the sceptre," he replied. "Much more likely it was one of the enhanced."

Hermione shivered and Natasha passed her a blanket. "Where are they?"

"They evaded capture," Steve answered. "Though I suspect we'll come across them again."

Hermione noted the way that the others were trying not to eye her warily. She wished they didn't have to be concerned about her but she appreciated their attempts to keep her distracted. After all, she would much rather deal with her own weaknesses than dwell on that hellish dream. In fact, it was taking all her concentration not to think about it. Her gaze took in Clint's resting figure which was laid out a few feet away, hooked up to a drip, and Natasha seemed to sense her thoughts.

"I'd give the healing a miss this time," she suggested. "We've got it covered back at base. He'll be fine."

"Yeah, this is still very much a win," Tony added.

"A win?" Hermione repeated, unconvinced.

"Sure," he insisted. "OK, so it's not an A-plus but I'd say we're a solid B-minus. That's not bad for your first op back, is it?"

In the not-too-distant past, Hermione would've considered anything below one hundred percent to be a failure, but she'd seen too much of life since then to think that was a practical outcome every day. "I suppose," she agreed.

Thor was gazing contemplatively at the sceptre. "Feels good, yeah?" Tony said to him and Thor nodded. "I mean, you've been after this thing since S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but…"

"No, but this…" Thor agreed, still looking at the sceptre. "This brings it to a close."

"As soon as we find out what else this has been used for," Steve reminded them. "I don't just mean weapons; since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?"

"Banner and I will give it the once over before it goes back to Asgard," Tony suggested, "Is that cool with you?" Thor nodded. "Just a few days till the farewell party. You're staying right?"

"Yes, yes, of course," he replied. "A victory should be honoured with revels and we have more than one victory to honour, do we not?"

"Yeah, sure, who doesn't love revels?" Tony agreed. "Captain?"

"Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and HYDRA," Steve agreed and he put an arm around Hermione's shoulder, giving her a small smile. "And we've got _you_ back so, yes, _revels_."

" _Granger_?" Tony prompted.

She frowned. "What sort of scale are you planning for these revels?"

"Whatever you're more comfortable with," he replied. "We could have a more intimate crowd with purely familiar faces, or we could invite a whole bunch of people and you can just stay in the background?"

The last thing she wanted was to spoil other people's 'revels' so she resigned herself to going to the party. Besides, it would be good for her to be amongst other people again. If the situation did become too much for her, a large crowd would be easier to slip away from without many people noticing… "The latter."

Tony smirked.

* * *

"You didn't tell me what you saw in the mind of the Sorceress," Pietro recalled as he brought food over to his sister.

Wanda smiled, just as she had done when she watched Tony Stark retrieve the sceptre.

"I think you will not believe me even if I tell you," she teased, accepting the warm container of food.

"It's better than Stark?" he asked in surprise.

"Stark's fear will make him ruin himself," she explained. "The Sorceress' secret will change the world as we know it…"

* * *

A/N Thanks for reading! Maybe Hermione shouldn't have gone to Sokovia after all!

I wouldn't normally mention a DC film here but I'm so happy that we FINALLY have a decent female-led superhero film that I feel like I have to! Yay, Wonder Woman! Did you guys enjoy the film? Wonder Woman was pretty much the only thing I liked about BvS - she's so awesome! It still bugs me that Marvel have been so slow getting a female-led film out themselves.

Anyway, until next time!

Lil Drop of Magic


	5. Chapter 5

Hi guys! Thanks for all your support for this series.

* * *

" _You honestly thought you could escape from me, you foolish child? That your disobedience would go unpunished? That I wouldn't take from you_ everything _that you hold dear and crush it into oblivion?"_

" – ou ready?"

The perfume bottle fell from Hermione's grip as Steve's voice broke into her recollection. He stooped down and grabbed it an inch from the floor but he hissed in pain and relinquished the bottle from his grip.

Hermione gasped and reached for his hand. "I'm so sorry!" she moaned, taking in the reddened skin where the bottle had burnt him. She summoned a salve from her shelves and started applying it at once.

"You were thinking about it again, weren't you?" he queried softly, appreciating the soothing influence the liquid had on his fingers. Hermione only nodded in response, unable to voice anything when it came to the horrific vision. "It's OK. I've told you; it's going to take some time to shake off experiencing your greatest fear played out in front of your eyes."

It had been three days since the Avengers' raid on the research facility in Sokovia but, despite her efforts to keep herself as busy as possible, Hermione still found her mind unintentionally revisiting what she'd seen in the hallucination. Her refusal to talk about it didn't improve her situation but, quite simply, she wasn't ready to share what she'd seen with anyone – even though what scared her the most was that her vision could come true one day…

However, there was progress on the therapy front in the form of Sam Wilson. Hermione's spirits couldn't help but be lifted by his lively presence and she was reminded that the first time she met Sam, he was chairing a meeting for service men and women suffering with PTSD. He wasn't a qualified therapist but he had more experience in that area than anyone else she knew. While she knew that she could be honest with Steve about her experiences, she was aware that it would be beneficial to talk to someone she wasn't quite as intimate with. Of course, there was the highly important issue of the Statute of Secrecy but Hermione had a mind to appeal to Kingsley on account of her mental health. Why mental health wasn't more of a concern in the magical community, Hermione didn't know, but she was determined not to let her recent experiences dictate her future. When Hermione tentatively broached the possibility with Sam, he was quite surprised, jokingly asked if she'd forgotten who was and gotten him confused with someone else, but promised he'd help in any way he could.

"Is that better?" Hermione asked Steve as she examined his fingers again.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said gently, "Don't worry about it. But if I ever see Wanda Maximoff again, I'm going to give her a piece of my mind," he muttered bitterly.

"She's had a tough life, Steve," Hermione pointed out, tucking the salve away. The information JARVIS had gathered at Strucker's base had revealed the identities of the two enhanced individuals as well as their back story. The twins had been orphaned at the age of ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building. Years later, the two had volunteered to take part in Strucker's experiments and were the only two to survive. "You can hardly blame her or her brother for their actions."

"You and I didn't exactly have things easy either," he said, "But we know the difference between right and wrong, good and bad."

"Depends on your perspective," she argued wryly.

There was a brief knock and then Clint's voice called through the closed door of their bedroom, "Hey, stop being losers; the party's been going on for over twenty minutes and I'm getting bored of telling people that I don't know why either of you aren't there yet."

Steve opened the door. "I'm sorry our tardiness is such an inconvenience for you," he told Clint with more than a hint of sarcasm.

Clint nodded as though the apology was actually warranted. "Yeah, so get your butts down there." Hermione had been very relieved to see Clint make a full recovery from his wound. The technology that Dr Cho had used on him to create new tissue was incredibly impressive. It always amazed Hermione how muggles came up with ingenious ways to match magical solutions and Clint seemed none the worse for his experience.

"Such eloquence," she teased, slipping her feet into her favourite pair of muted gold heels. "I'm sure our guests are heartbroken that they're currently being denied the thrill of your presence."

Clint grinned. "I've missed your way with words, Mei-mei. Catch you guys later," he said, raising his beer at them in farewell.

"Are you ready?" Steve asked and Hermione nodded instantly.

"Yes," she replied and closed their door behind her with a distinct click. This party would be a perfect way to distract her from her own mind for a few hours.

The actual number of people in the tower surprised her a little because she was used to their number being so small but it would be a little insulting of her to assume that her colleagues didn't have any other friends or acquaintances.

It was nice to see everyone dressed up and having fun and Hermione was relieved to find that her mind _was_ suitably occupied by all the different people and their conversations. It was such a breath of fresh air to talk to someone about something that wasn't alien or Avengers-related.

"Hey, if it isn't my favourite pair of troublemakers!" Sam called over to them, squeezing through the mingling crowd to get to them. "Looking smooth, guys," he complimented, shaking Steve's hand and kissing Hermione on the cheek. "I think we ought to get dressed up more often; makes me feel somewhat sophisticated. I've got the next go on the pool table so are you up for a game?"

"Of course," Steve replied eagerly, "If you think you can beat me this time."

"Oh, I know I can," Sam replied confidently before turning to Hermione. "You're gonna be my partner, right?"

She smiled. "I would, but I think my intense desire to win might have a, um, _unintentional_ influence on the game," she replied, not trusting that her magic wouldn't make the balls behave exactly as she wanted them to.

"That's what I was counting on!" Sam cried, looking put out.

"Sorry," she shrugged. "If you want to beat Steve, you'll have to do it on your own."

The three of them moved to get a drink from the bar and found Tony, Thor, Maria and Colonel Rhodes already there. It seemed that Rhodes was in the middle of telling a War Machine story.

"Well, you know, the suit can take the weight, right?" he said. "So I take the tank, fly it right up to the General's palace, drop it at his feet, I'm like. 'Boom! You looking for this?'" Blank looks greeted the enthusiastic end to his story and he frowned. "Boom, are you looking…" he shook his head. "Why do I even bother talking to you guys? Everywhere else that story kills."

"That's the whole story?" Thor asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, it's a War Machine story," Rhodes explained obviously peeved.

"Well, it's very good then," Thor allowed, chuckling slightly. "It's impressive."

"Quality save," Rhodes muttered sarcastically.

"We missed the beginning," Steve pointed out, "Maybe if we heard it all it would – "

"No!" Tony cut across him, handing Hermione, Steve and Sam a drink. "I don't think there's any need for that."

Rhodes showed the classic signs of suddenly recognising who Hermione was, then greeted her warmly and raised his glass to her. She could see that he was bursting with questions but he managed to rein them in.

"So, no Pepper?" Rhodes asked Tony. "She's not coming?"

Tony shook his head.

"What about Jane?" Maria asked Thor and he echoed Tony's action. "I don't know about you, Hermione, but I feel like the ladies are underrepresented tonight."

"Well, Ms Potts does have a company to run," Tony pointed out.

"Yes, I'm not even sure which country Jane's in," Thor put in. "Her work on the Convergence has made her the world's foremost astronomer."

"And the company that Pepper runs is the largest tech conglomerate on earth. It's pretty exciting," Tony added looking specifically at Thor.

"There's even talk of Jane getting a, um, a Nobel Prize," Thor said both proudly and challengingly to Tony, causing knowing looks between the others.

"Wow," Sam said sarcastically and then looked at Steve while nodding pointedly at Hermione. "Are you just going to stand there?"

"Please," Hermione scoffed disapprovingly, before Steve had a chance to respond, slightly appalled by their ridiculous one-upmanship. "It's _not_ a competition."

"Yeah," Steve agreed strongly, before adding under his breath loudly enough for them all to hear, "That either of them would win."

Sam laughed and Hermione hit Steve lightly on his arm. "Honestly!"

Maria pretended to cough. " _Testosterone!"_ She held a hand to her chest. "Excuse me."

Playing along, Rhodes looked at her with concern. "Want a lozenge?" he offered. Maria nodded and the two of them walked away, followed by Steve and Sam who saw that it was their turn on the pool table.

"How was your work with the sceptre?" Hermione asked Tony. "You've certainly spent a lot of time with it." In truth, Hermione had barely seen Tony or Bruce since they had all returned from Sokovia because the two scientists had spent so much time shut up in the lab. Due to her hatred of the sceptre, Hermione had kept far away from the thing apart from to impart the knowledge that Loki had most likely been given the weapon from her own captor. Nobody had been particularly happy to hear of the connection but, since Loki was dead, that information was purely deemed as interesting and not vitally important.

"In a word: frustrating," Tony replied with a frown and then adopted a more cheerful look. "But we're not supposed to be talking shop – it'll spoil the revels."

"Very true, my friend," Thor agreed taking a large gulp of his drink. "Let us enjoy the evening – who knows when we'll all be back together again."

Sometime later, Natasha walked up to Hermione and handed her a cocktail. "I made you your favourite," Natasha told her, "seeing as it's been a while."

Hermione excused herself from the people she was talking to and happily took a sip of the raspberry daiquiri. She let out a small sigh of pleasure and took another sip as Natasha smirked at her. "Thank you. I'd forgotten how good they tasted!"

"Hey, what are friends for?" Natasha replied.

Hermione was about to ask how Natasha's evening had been but she noticed that her friend's gaze lingered a little too long on a particular point of the room. Turning her head to see what Natasha was looking at, she saw Bruce in a conversation with Dr Cho. Although Hermione had seen that particular expression on many people's faces, she'd never seen it on Natasha's before.

"Oh!" Hermione gasped , choking a little on her daiquiri, and Natasha's face became its usual, cool self again. "Wait – we _are_ looking at Bruce and not Dr Cho, right? Not that there's anything wrong with –"

Natasha's noisy sigh cut Hermione off. "You're not very good at this, Granger" she pointed out. "Yes: Bruce."

Hermione grinned excitedly. She couldn't recall a time when Natasha had opened up about her feelings towards someone else. Hermione desperately wanted her friend to experience what it was to be loved and supported by a companion; to experience the same happiness she felt with Steve. Bruce had one (rather large) flaw but, if anyone could soften Natasha's rough edges it was him. "When did…? Have you…? Does he…?" Hermione found too many questions spilling out of her all at once. Natasha shook her head and rolled her eyes at Hermione's gabbling but she also looked a little amused.

"Nothing's happened."

"Why not?" Hermione questioned innocently.

Natasha's gaze was diverted again as she watched Bruce walk through the crowd. "I don't know if this is what he wants," she answered, sounding a little downhearted.

"Well, you won't know until you talk to him," Hermione pointed out and then looked at Natasha sternly. "Promise me you'll do it tonight – it might be months before you see each other again and you don't want this uncertainty shadowing you all that time." Natasha didn't look convinced. " _Promise me_ ," Hermione repeated.

"You seem very emotionally invested in this already," Natasha commented dryly.

"I want you to be happy," Hermione responded, stating the obvious. "Not to mention that you pushed Steve and I together when we were reluctant to take the first steps. I just want to do the same for you."

Natasha paused and Hermione noticed the way that her eyes very briefly flicked down to the lack of jewellery on Hermione's ring finger. "How are things going with you two?" she asked seriously.

Hermione glanced over at where Steve was talking amiably to some elderly veterans. "It… varies," she admitted. "Sometimes it feels like nothing's changed; everything fits and it's so easy. But, other times," she sighed, "I feel so different to the person that I was – like I'm a jigsaw piece that's had its joins cut off so I can't connect properly – and then I find it hard be near him, which makes me feel awful for giving him mixed messages."

"I'm sure he understands," Natasha said comfortingly. "He's never going to let you down."

Hermione nodded and suddenly found it a little difficult to swallow. "But I find that a little suffocating, to be honest," she admitted quickly. "When I'm struggling to accept who I am and what I've done, having this perfect being beside me doesn't always help."

Natasha's gaze was worried but she looked like she understood. "Now you know how the rest of us feel – not that it's his fault, of course."

"No, it's not," Hermione agreed, "And I know that he's not judging me in any way. I just wish that I could be the partner he deserves."

"You _are_ who he deserves," Natasha insisted, "And don't forget that for a moment. Whatever you did, I'm sure that it's nothing that any of us wouldn't have done in the same circumstances – including Steve – and I doubt we'd even be feeling as much turmoil as you."

Hermione took a sip of her drink to avoid having to say anything.

"Look, if you need a few days away from all of this, you should go somewhere," Natasha suggested. "All we want is for you to feel more at peace with yourself so don't feel like you need to be near us the whole time – and that applies to Steve too. As much as it hurts me to say it, seeing as I was the one that got the ball rolling, maybe a break would do you both good?"

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise.

But… it wasn't a totally absurd suggestion, was it?

She _did_ have to figure out her place in the world; now that S.H.I.E.L.D didn't exist in the same capacity, she wasn't Agent Granger anymore and nor was she employed as their magical liaison. But was there any reason to do that on her own? It wasn't as though she couldn't survive on her own – she'd spent over a year proving just how strong she was. Nor did she hold any affinity with needing to be in a relationship to give her life value. If she thought that breaking up with Steve was the best thing for her, she would do it, however painful that experience it would be for both of them. The question was, _was_ that the best option?

Her heart hammered in her chest as she considered that.

 _No._

She was going to beat her demons, she was confident in that, but that didn't mean the only strong way to achieve it was to do it on her own. She felt sure that she would feel much stronger and recover more quickly with the support of her family. And, first and foremost, that's what Steve was to her; _family_. Her personal world had always been an unstable one and, at times, she'd struggled to fit in, to find her place. But, with him, she felt like she was home. Yes, there _were_ times that she had to take a temporary step back from Steve but that didn't mean that their relationship was failing or that it was damaging her! It had just evolved…

Steve seemed to sense her gaze because he glanced over and mouthed if she was OK. She nodded and smiled, pleased that she was being honest with him and herself; she wasn't great, but she was OK, which was as much as she could hope for at the moment.

Natasha observed the silent exchange with an expression that was much more like a smile rather than her usual smirk. "Well, that's good. I've still got that bridesmaid's dress in storage and it looks like I might get to use it someday."

Hermione grinned, and suddenly found the prospect of marrying Steve a lot less terrifying than she had done the last few days. "Someday," she confirmed. "But don't think that I've forgotten you didn't promise me about Bruce!"

After a little more badgering, Natasha finally gave in and Hermione grinned triumphantly. "And now I'm going to leave before you change your mind," she said quickly. "Thanks again for the drink!"

Hermione eventually worked her way back to Steve and couldn't help but chuckle to herself when she overheard Rhodes telling his War Machine story to an impressed circle of civilians who laughed heartily at the ending.

She kept an eye out for Natasha and Bruce but neither had been near the other yet. Hermione knew that Natasha would always do things on her own terms so there was little point in trying to force her hand any more than she'd already done so.

"Hey," Steve greeted warmly, as he came over to her, "Do you want to dance?"

Unbidden, half a dozen memories of her time as a Guardian flashed in her mind but they were mostly pleasant and she had no qualms accepting his offered hand. There wasn't a dance floor as such but a few people had grouped together near to where the upbeat music was louder. Hermione smiled broadly as they danced and couldn't help but laugh whenever she spun under Steve's arm.

 _Do you want to go out for dinner tomorrow night – just the two of us?_

"Like on a date?" he asked.

Hermione nodded. _Our first date back together._

"There's nothing I want to do more," he told her seriously.

A slight change in the direction she was facing revealed that Natasha and Bruce were talking at the bar.

 _It's happening!_

Steve looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"Bruce and Natasha!" she whispered excitedly.

"Bruce and Natasha?" he repeated in surprise and then turned to look at what she was fixated on. "She's not just flirting?"

"Nope," she replied and then stilled. "Is that what Bruce will think?"

Steve shrugged. "I guess so." He abruptly found himself being pushed towards the bar. "What are you doing?"

"You have to talk to him and explain that this is real," Hermione explained.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Steve objected.

"Natasha made _you_ see sense," Hermione pointed out, "It's only fair you return the favour! Oh, and don't make it obvious I sent you over," she added as their friends' conversation appeared to be winding down. She gave Steve one final shove before walking off in a different direction so she could observe from a safe distance.

Hermione watched Natasha walk away from Bruce with a final sultry smile and crossed her fingers that whatever Steve said would have a positive impact. The two men talked for only a minute (and she couldn't hear what they said) but Steve turned back to Hermione with a look of quiet confidence.

"What did you say?" she interrogated immediately as they wandered back over to the dance area.

"I just spoke honestly," Steve replied, resting his hand on her waist, "That, despite not being the most open person in world, Natasha seems very comfortable with him. And I advised him not to wait because I know a little too well what the consequences of that are."

Hermione grimaced a little. "Don't we both," she muttered.

Not long after that, the party began to slowly wind down until only a few of them were left. Take-out was ordered and they all congregated comfortably on the couches, talking, eating and laughing.

"But, it's a trick!" Clint claimed, nodding at Mjolnir as he twirled a pair of drumsticks around his fingers.

"Oh, no," Thor denied, "It's much more than that."

" _Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power,"_ Clint quoted in a dramatic, mocking tone. "Whatever, man! It's a trick."

Thor chuckled and gestured to the hammer that was resting innocently on the table. "Please, be my guest." The other conversations quietened at this offer and everyone turned to Clint expectantly.

"Come on," Tony goaded.

Clint looked at Thor uncertainly. "Really?"

"Yeah," he replied enthusiastically.

Hermione watched in amusement as Clint got to his feet.

"Oh, this is gonna be beautiful," Rhodes murmured.

"Clint, you've have a tough week," Tony said almost supportively, "We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up." The others laughed as Clint eyed the hammer suspiciously.

"You know I've seen this before, right?" he said to Thor, who nodded, smiling. Clint grabbed the handle with one hand and heaved, grunting with exertion. He chuckled and let go. "I still don't know how you do it!"

"Smell the silent judgement?" Tony queried.

"Please," Clint motioned to him, "Stark, by all means."

"OK." Tony got to his feet and undid the button of his suit jacket, walking with his usual air of confidence around the table. "Never one to shrink from an honest challenge."

"Here we go," Natasha muttered, rolling her eyes.

"It's physics," Tony claimed.

" _Physics_ ," Bruce scoffed.

Tony put his hand through the strap and gripped the handle tightly. "Right, so, if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?" he clarified.

"Yes, of course," Thor replied amiably.

"What do you think?" Steve whispered to Hermione.

"Not even a chance," she replied with a faint look of disgust on her face as soon as Tony crowed that he would be reinstituting _prima nocta_ if he were successful.

Tony heaved with both hands but Mjolnir didn't move. He released his grip and untied the strap. "I'll be right back," he said shortly.

"You called it," Steve said, taking a sip of beer.

"It wasn't a difficult one," she replied wryly as Tony reappeared with his left arm encased in some Iron Man armour.

Tony clasped the handle and pulled again to no end. He altered his grip slightly and used increased power from his suit but he still failed. "Rhodey, give me a hand."

Rhodes somewhat reluctantly got to his feet and used his tech to summon the arm of War Machine.

"Yes, _of course_ you just need more power," Maria said sarcastically.

Tony placed his hand at the bottom of the handle, Rhodes at the top.

"Are you even pulling?" Rhodes asked after their efforts made no difference.

"Are you on my team?" Tony replied.

"Just represent," Rhodes answered. "Pull!"

"All right, let's go!" The pair of them tried their hardest but were utterly unsuccessful.

Bruce stepped up next and actually planted his feet on the table to give himself more force. Steve looked at Hermione questioningly but, after a moment's pause, she shook her head. As much as she loved Bruce, there was just too much anger inside him.

Bruce yelled with exertion and then stepped back, continuing to shout as though to summon the Hulk but the others just stared back at him. His cry quickly petered out but he didn't look particularly disappointed.

"Go ahead, Steve," Tony challenged, "No pressure."

Steve glanced at Hermione and she briefly squeezed his fingers.

 _Do you actually want to lift it?_ she questioned. He stood up and there was a contemplative look on his face for a moment as he rolled up his sleeves. Steve carefully positioned his feet so that he was well balanced.

"Come on, Cap," Tony called.

Steve gripped the handle with both hands and tugged on the hammer.

It was a hint, nothing more, but there _was_ movement. The worried look on Thor's face showed that Hermione hadn't imagined it, but nobody else seemed to have noticed. Mjolnir remained still after that, despite Steve's continued events and Hermione's heart ceased its alarmed thundering. Steve humbly held up his hands in defeat.

"Nothing," Thor chuckled but Hermione sensed that it was rather forced.

Then she felt all eyes on her and she realised it was her turn to attempt to lift Mjolnir…

* * *

A/N OK, the main reason I stopped this chapter there (apart from the fact that it would've been too long otherwise) was that I REALLY want to know what what you guys think would happen if Hermione tried to lift Thor's hammer. I have my own views that I will share with you next time (if I remember!).

Also, I saw Spider-man: Homecoming on Wednesday and I loved it SO much! Anybody else seen it?

Lots of love to you all!

Lil Drop of Magic


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hi guys!

Thanks for all your responses for the last chapter. It was so interesting to see what you all think about Hermione's chances of lifting Mjolnir. I was going to put my thoughts on the matter at the end of the chapter but it felt a little weird when the incident happens right at the start. So, if you want to read my opinion _before_ you read the next part of the story, carry on, otherwise skip to the start of the chapter and then come back (if you want to!).

So, with her self-esteem so low, I don't think Hermione would risk such a crushing blow to her self-worth. In different circumstances I really think that Hermione would be able to lift the hammer but I also think that's true of Steve too. I read some different people's views on a forum somewhere about why Steve didn't lift it in the film. Some said they think he _could_ but pretended not to, or tried not to, so Thor wouldn't be shown up. Others said that _scenario_ was unworthy because they were just trying to lift it to satisfy their ego. If Hermione had gone to pick up the hammer, I think she would have failed because her recent actions way too heavily on her mind. A good leader should be affected by their actions but not so much that it haunts their every moment. She'd need to be further along the recovery path before she was successful (not that I think she'd particularly want to rule Asgard anyway!)

On with the chapter!

* * *

She felt all eyes on her.

"Come on, Granger, give it a go," Tony suggested.

"Ah, but how do we know she's not just using her magic?" Clint asked, pointing a drumstick accusingly at her.

Hermione summoned the stick out of his fingers and then made it jab at his ribs. "You don't," she agreed lightly as he swatted the drumstick away, "Which is why I'll pass." Truthfully, Hermione didn't see the point in trying something she knew she'd fail at. Given the way she'd acted under Thanos and how she continued to deceive those around her, she couldn't possibly see how she was worthy to lift the hammer…

"Widow?" Tony questioned, turning to Natasha.

"No, no. That's not a question I need answered," she replied confidently, taking a sip of beer.

"All deference to the Man Who Wouldn't Be King, but it's rigged," Tony complained.

"You bet your ass," Clint agreed as he walked past to get another beer.

"Steve, he said a bad language word!" Maria pointed out.

Steve frowned at Tony. "Did you tell everyone about that?"

"The handle's imprinted, right?" Tony asked Thor, ignoring Steve's complaint. "Like a security code. 'Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints' is, I think, the literal translation." He turned to Hermione. "If you give me some Polyjuice Potion to change into Thor, I bet I'll be able to lift it."

"Sorry, Tony, I don't have any with me," she admitted. In truth, Hermione was actually quite interested to see what would happen if someone attempted to lift Mjolnir whilst impersonating Thor with the Polyjuice Potion but that investigation would have to wait.

"Yes, well, it's a very, very interesting theory," Thor agreed, standing up. "I have a simple one." He picked up the hammer and flipped it over effortlessly before catching it again. "You're all not worthy."

Various groans met this claim.

A loud screeching noise filled the air and many people winced or covered their ears. Tony took out his all-powerful phone and looked at it with a frown.

"Worthy."

The unknown voice sent a chill down Hermione's spine and she stood, alert to any danger, as did the others.

"No," the voice continued lowly, as a lumbering figure came into view a half-floor below them. "How could you be worthy?" Hermione saw that the creature was a poorly constructed and sinister version of one Tony's legionnaire droids. She was tempted to use her magic to pull it apart straight away but she felt strangely compelled to find out what it wanted. "You're all killers."

"Stark," Steve said lowly.

"J.A.R.V.I.S," Tony said, trying to contact the computer system.

"I'm sorry," the droid continued, "I was asleep. Or… I was a dream?

Tony tapped his device. "Reboot Legionnaire OS," he instructed, "We got a buggy suit."

"There was this terrible noise… and I was tangled in… in strings," the droid explained haltingly. "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" Steve questioned flatly. Hermione would happily destroy the droid but if she did, it was possible she would be ruining any chance they might get of finding answers.

"Wouldn't have been my first call," the droid admitted. "But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Thor called.

The droid played a recording, " _I see the suit of armour around the world_." They all recognised the voice instantly as belonging to Tony.

"Ultron," Bruce said with understanding, glancing at Tony.

"In the flesh," the robot replied, "Or, no, not yet." Ultron peered around at his body. "Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Natasha asked.

Ultron gazed at them all. "Peace in our time."

Some of Tony's legionnaires burst through the walls towards them and Hermione instantly erected a shield. The droids impacted solidly against it but the ward stood firm.

"Ah, yes," Ultron muttered, tilting his head as he looked at her while the legionnaires kept trying to break through. "You've had an upgrade."

The floor beneath her feet crumbled away and metallic hands grabbed at her, pulling her down and dropping her to the quinjet docks below. She just managed to avoid impacting against jet as she apparated back to the level above but her shield had already been broken. The droids were firing as her mostly unarmed friends ducked for cover.

A droid shot up through the hole in the floor and Hermione used her magic to wrench it apart. She deflected multiple blasts from a different droid and then Steve jumped on its back. The legionnaire flew higher and forcefully rammed Steve's back against the wall, making him lose his grip. Hermione gave him a controlled descent before she went off in pursuit of the closest drone. It was a frenetic, but short-lived, battle.

"That was dramatic!" Ultron exclaimed as he looked around at the carnage. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it isn't allowed to… evolve?" He bent down and picked up the wreckage of one of the legionnaires. "With these? These puppets," he said dismissively, throwing the smoking metal back to the floor. "There's only one path to peace," he claimed, "The Avengers' extinction."

Thor threw Mjolnir at him and the droid was crushed. The lights of Ultron's eyes flickered to darkness as they heard, "I had strings but now I'm free…"

* * *

It took Hermione less than a minute to repair the damages done to Avengers Tower and Steve noticed that, as she did so, she didn't take her eyes off Tony. Stark was either doing a very good job of pretending he couldn't feel her gaze burning into him or he was genuinely unaware of it.

Thor had flown after the legionnaire droid that had managed to abscond with Loki's sceptre while the others joined Hermione in throwing accusatory glances at Stark and Banner. Bruce, at least, had the grace to look sheepish as he went into the lab, trying to assess what damage their crazy robot had done.

"Thanks, Granger," Tony muttered, gesturing vaguely to the repaired penthouse as he turned to follow the others into the lab. She blocked his path.

"That's what you used the sceptre for, isn't it?" she questioned sternly. "Using something as unpredictable and powerful as the sceptre to create artificial life – are you _insane_?!"

"Why do I get the feeling that you and I are going to revisit a very familiar conversation?" he muttered, pushing past her to see the damage inside the lab.

"Because apparently you never listen to me!" she barked after him.

"Then I'm not the insane one," Tony retorted, "Einstein said – "

"I know exactly what Einstein said about insanity; don't patronise me, you arrogant fool!"

The pair of them glared at each other heatedly.

"All our work is gone," Bruce said, breaking the silence. Hermione noticed that Maria was attempting to remove shards of glass from her foot and she knelt down next to her to be of assistance. "Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch."

"Ultron," Steve murmured, familiarising himself with the name.

"He's been in everything," Natasha confirmed, "Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other."

"He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?" Rhodes proposed.

"Nuclear codes," Maria said with a wince as Hermione worked her healing magic.

"Nuclear codes," Rhodes agreed. "Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can."

"Nukes?" Natasha questioned. "He said he wanted _us_ dead."

"He didn't say 'dead'," Steve pointed out.

"He said 'extinct'," Hermione added.

"He also said he killed somebody," Clint reminded them.

Maria frowned. "But there wasn't anyone else in the building."

"Yes there was," Tony announced lowly, walking to the centre of the lab. He made a flicking motion with his phone and a fractured three-dimensional image appeared before them. Steve understood at once that it was a representation of J.A.R.V.I.S.

"What?" Bruce muttered, staring in disbelief at the projection, "This is insane."

Steve folded his arms and shook his head. "J.A.R.V.I.S was the first line of defence. He would've shut Ultron down. It makes sense."

"No, Ultron could've assimilated J.A.R.V.I.S," Bruce disagreed. "This isn't strategy. This is rage."

"It's going around," Clint pointed out as Thor angrily strode into the lab and grabbed Tony by the throat, lifting him off his feet.

"Come on," Tony choked out, "Use your words, buddy."

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," he replied angrily.

"Thor," Steve called to distract him, "The legionnaire?"

Thor abruptly relinquished his grip on Tony's throat, making him stagger a little as his feet were reacquainted with the ground.

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it's headed north, and it has the sceptre," Thor confirmed, much to everyone's disappointment. "Now we have to retrieve it, _again_."

"Genie's out of that bottle," Natasha said, "Clear and present is Ultron."

"I don't understand," Helen Cho murmured, staring at the wreckage of one of the defective legionnaires before turning to Tony and Bruce. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

Unbelievably, Tony started to chuckle. Bruce tried to get him to stop by subtly shaking his head but Tony carried on giggling as he looked at one of his computer screens.

"You think this is funny?" Hermione asked, the disapproval in her tone echoed in the expressions the others wore.

Tony looked at her. "No. It's probably not, right?" He didn't sound particularly convinced with his answer. "Is this very terrible? Is it so…is it so…it is. It's so terrible," he concluded sarcastically.

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand," Hermione accused angrily but Tony called out in objection.

"No! I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he argued, walking towards her. "It _is_ funny. It's a _hoot_ that _you_ , of all people, don't _get_ why we need this."

"Tony," Bruce called diplomatically, "Maybe this might not be the time."

Tony turned on him. "Really? That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls?"

"Only when I've created a murder-bot," Bruce replied.

"We didn't," Tony countered. "We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?" Bruce pulled a conflicted face to show he didn't quite agree with Tony's assessment.

"Well, you did something right," Steve pointed out, "And you did it right here."

"You say _I_ should understand, so, why didn't you tell me this is what you were doing?" Hermione questioned.

"You hate the sceptre," Tony began but she cut across him sharply with a shake of her head.

"Not good enough."

"The science was beyond your understanding," he argued.

"That's never stopped you with Stranger Enterprises," she countered.

"You, you know, you've had a lot on your mind," he muttered and Hermione looked so furious that Steve actually thought she was going to slap him.

"Don't you _ever_ use my personal struggles as a means to justify your foolish actions," she warned lowly. "You didn't tell me – or anyone else – because you knew what you were doing wasn't right. The Avengers were supposed to be different than S.H.I.E.L.D!"

"Let me cast your mind back to when I carried a nuke through a wormhole. Anybody remember that?" Tony asked acerbically.

"No. It's never come up," Rhodes muttered.

"A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it," Tony reminded them – not that any of them needed to be told. "Like you said, we're the _Avengers_. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but, that up there?" He pointed, referring to the aliens, "That's… that's the endgame." He looked at Hermione. "You told me yourself; we're so far behind with our tech."

Hermione scoffed. "You honestly think that you're the only one worried about that?"

"No, but, at the moment, I'm the only one doing anything about it," he argued,

"We are _supposed_ to be a team," she countered. "You can't just do what you think is best all the time!"

"Yeah?" he replied softly, glancing around at them. "How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together," Steve replied.

"We'll lose," Tony said with certainty but Steve was unmoved.

"Then we'll do that together, too."

Tony looked like he had a lot more to say but, for the moment, the arguing was over. Steve gave out orders to start the search for Ultron.

It was a long and frustrating night. After getting the computer systems properly back online, Tony and Bruce returned to their schematics to see if they could detect what had happened to cause Ultron's creation or trigger his instability.

"It can read vocal stress patterns, adrenaline spikes," Bruce listed as he re-watched footage of their confrontation with Ultron.

"None of that was in the schematic we launched," Tony muttered.

"He had a self-constructed learning spiral," Bruce reminded him.

"In his _language_ database," Tony stressed. "He was supposed to learn slang, not go insane."

"You're assuming it _did_."

"Look, we both know the guy has anger issues, which, not to point a finger…" Tony pointed at Bruce.

Bruce said heavily, "We told him to save the world…"

* * *

A couple of hours after dawn, Maria found Steve to update him on sightings of Ultron or other droids at robotics labs, weapons facilities and jet propulsion labs. There had been few fatalities but many more occurrences of people left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears and 'something too fast to see.'

"Maximoffs," Steve muttered, glancing over towards the lab where Hermione was compiling a list of what Ultron had deleted from their system. "That makes sense he'd go to them. They have someone in common."

"Not anymore." Maria handed him a tablet which showed an image of Baron Strucker's dead body. Someone had used his blood to write the word PEACE on the wall next to him.

"That's kind of a mixed message," he murmured.

"Is it?" Maria questioned. "If it was my mission, world peace, I'd probably take out Strucker too. Ultron could be in any system. He could be pulling planes down from the sky. What if he's just doing what he's supposed to?"

"If I thought Ultron was bringing peace, I'd hang up my shield," Steve claimed.

"Would you?" she asked, obviously not believing him. He glanced up from the screen and stared at her. She gazed back, unfazed, and he frowned.

"Let me know if he leaves any more messages," he ordered and then walked to the lab to show the others what had happened to Strucker.

"This is a smokescreen," Natasha claimed, looking at the photo. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," Steve suggested.

"Yeah," she agreed, "I bet he…" She typed quickly on the computer she was working on. "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

"Not everything," Tony corrected.

Luckily, they still had some of S.H.I.E.L.D's physical files on Strucker. During their search, Tony recognised a black market arms dealer named Ulysses Klaue. A curious symbol had been branded onto Klaue's neck, which their computer decrypted to mean 'thief' in the Wakanda dialect. Steve and Tony realised the significance of the African country at once because that was where Howard Stark had acquired the vibranium for Steve's shield. Given that the metal was the strongest on earth, no good could come of Ultron obtaining any. They had no proof that this was what Ultron was definitely after but Steve's gut told him this was where they should go.

"Ultron's got the Maximoffs on side," Steve told them before they left to get ready for the trip to Klaue's base ship on the coast of Africa. "They're a tricky pair, to say the least, and we've seen for ourselves the damage they can cause so be prepared." They all nodded and moved away. Steve called for Hermione to wait a moment. She paused and looked at him analytically, trying to figure out what he wanted. Something must have given his thoughts away because her brows furrowed and she crossed her arms defensively. "I want you on the quinjet," he told her quietly, "But you're not coming on Klaue's ship."

"She caught me by surprise before," Hermione objected. "My mind wasn't as protected as it should be but I've been working on my occlumency and it should be much better protected now."

He shook his head. "We don't know how Wanda's mental manipulations work – your magic might be unable to stop her interfering again. You're still vulnerable."

"You're all vulnerable too!" she retorted.

"But we're not going to unleash uncontrollable bursts of magic," he pointed out calmly.

"How am I supposed to protect everyone if I'm not where the danger is?" she asked, clearly frustrated.

"We'll be in communication with you," he replied. "If the situation goes south, you apparate over to us." The expression on her face showed just how much she thought of his orders but she held her tongue. He hated to upset her but he had to put both her own and the team's safety first; exposing her to Wanda's manipulations could make an already risky situation even more chaotic.

"I understand," she said shortly.

Steve rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not doing this because of… us."

She looked at him sharply. "I never said you were."

"I know, I just want to be clear on that front."

"You're the leader," she sighed, her posture softening slightly. "You make decisions for the best of the team. _I understand_." She gently placed her hand against his face. "It's OK, Steve."

The journey to the African salvage yard took longer than any of them would have liked but, although Hermione offered to Portkey them, they needed the backup of the quinjet.

None of the rest of the team looked particularly surprised when Steve announced that Hermione and Bruce were to wait on the jet. Steve retested his comm link to her one last time.

"We'll be fine, Hermione."

He saw her nod from the other end of the jet. "You'd better be."

Ultron and the twins were already on board. But it was not the same Ultron as before. This droid was impressively engineered and stood nearly nine feet tall.

"Don't compare me with Stark!" they heard Ultron's voice echo angrily throughout the ship as they took up their positions. "It's a thing with me. Stark is… He's a sickness!"

"Ah, junior," Tony called out sadly, as he powered down to land on the walkway opposite Ultron and the twins. Thor and Steve walked out of the shadows to stand behind him. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."

"If I have to," Ultron replied, not looking particularly surprised to see them.

"Nobody has to break anything," Thor reasoned.

"Clearly you've never made an omelette," Ultron quipped.

"He beat me by one second," Tony claimed, though Steve didn't think the humour was quite appropriate for the situation and nor did Pietro.

"Yes, he's funny, Mr Stark," the speedster called. "It's what? Comfortable?" He glanced down at missiles that were stacked in the hold below them. "Like old times?"

"This was never my life," Tony denied.

"You two can still walk away from this," Steve said, addressing the twins.

"Oh, we will," Wanda replied confidently. "But I notice your fiancée is not here…"

Steve ignored her barb. "I know you've suffered," he began and Ultron made a noise of great disgust.

"Captain America," he chuckled, "God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war. I can't _physically_ throw up in my mouth, but I can practically taste the bile – especially when I take into account the deceit you're complicit with."

Steve frowned at him, an uneasy feeling in his stomach, but he knew that Ultron was just trying to distract them.

"OK, look," Tony cut in, "If you're going to start throwing accusations around, don't start by trying to pin something on the guy who won't even curse."

Pietro chuckled again, a satisfied look on his face, as Ultron fractionally turned his head towards Wanda. "He definitely knows?"

Wanda's eyes were fixed on Steve and she nodded. "He does," she confirmed, "I saw it in her mind."

"Yes, it's a shame the Sorceress isn't here," Ultron said, as though this were a casual meeting amongst friends. "I would have enjoyed seeing her trying to magic her way out of this one but, you see, the truth will always out."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Steve accused quickly, the uneasy feeling developing into panic.

"Oh, believe me, I was as surprised as anyone!" Ultron replied lightly, "Given that I have knowledge of everything, you'd think there'd be some teeny mention of the widespread magic community, all those witches and wizards and magical creatures of all kinds, on some sort of database! But, I guess that's why it's called a _secret_ …"

* * *

A/N Sorry (not really) for being a tease; both for the cliffhanger and Hermione not even attempting to lift the Hammer!

Looking forward to the next chapter? ;-)

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic


	7. Chapter 7

A/N Hi guys! Thanks for your continued support!

* * *

Steve could feel his heart pounding in his chest and his mouth had gone dry.

"Cap?" Tony asked uncertainly.

"The Sorceress has been lying to you for years," Wanda told them. "She only works with you so you won't find out about all the other magic."

"That's not true," Steve said hoarsely. "She's always tried to help in whatever way she can."

Pietro shrugged. "Maybe," he agreed simply. "But the other part is true; she's been pulling wool over your eyes since moment you met her and _he's_ known all along." He nodded at Steve.

"Tell me that isn't true," Tony ground out, sounding like his jaw was clenched very tightly, pointedly not looking at him. "Tell me that this is just a stupid mind game. Tell me, and I'll believe you."

Steve knew what he had to say but that didn't make it any easier. "I – I can't," he admitted with a deep sigh, sending a silent apology to Hermione, knowing that he'd let her down.

Tony turned to him furiously. "You son of a bitch!"

Steve raised his shield to deflect the blow that Tony was about to inflict on him but Thor grabbed Tony's arm with a roar of, "Enough! There are more important matters to attend to."

"Now, who would've thought that Thor would be the one to spoil all the fun?" Ultron proposed lightly. "Oh well, let's get onto the main event."

Ultron used an energy wave from his body to knock them over as a couple of legionnaires dropped down to attack them.

"This isn't over by a long shot, Cap," Tony muttered as he engaged in a fight with Ultron.

Steve roared in frustration as he battled a legionnaire. He managed to knock it to the floor and he ran a couple of steps towards Wanda, determined to stop her before she had the chance to meddle any further but she used a red force to push him back. Klaue's mercenaries entered the fray and Steve had to duck bullets as he resumed his fight with the legionnaire. The droid managed to get away from him and he launched his shield after it. Abruptly, something hit him forcefully in his face and it took him a moment to realise that it must have been Pietro. The legionnaire advanced on Steve with his own shield but he leapt over the droid and grabbed the shield's rim and pulled it upwards in an attempt to force off its head. This was achieved when Thor smashed his hammer into it. Steve threw the shield, knocking out three of Kalue's men in quick succession. He noticed that Pietro was sprawled amongst containers, trying to regain his feet. Steve jumped down and knocked the shield against his head, making Pietro stumble back again.

"Stay down, kid," he advised and then went to take out more mercenaries, legionnaires or Wanda; whatever he came across first.

"Thor, status," Steve ordered.

"The girl tried to warp my mind," he replied. "Take special care. I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty."

Steve was mindful of his advice but it was difficult when there were still plenty of mercenaries and droids to defeat. He had just thrown one of Kalue's men the length of the ship when something slammed forcefully into him, sending him rocketing backwards to crash into some pipes. He groaned slightly and he shut his eyes tightly as something raced across his vision.

Music blared in his ears and he saw he was in one of the dance halls back from when he was growing up in Brooklyn. In fact, judging by the music, fashion and the army uniform he was wearing, he was back in the forties. There were people laughing, dancing and celebrating. Champagne was flowing at every table as he wended his way to the dance floor but he could hear the distant sounds of battle amongst the upbeat swing music. At one table he saw his Howling Commandos and, at another, the Avengers. They all looked like they were having the time of their lives. A couple of the dancers moved and he saw Hermione standing there, waiting for him, a beatific smile on her face.

She ran towards him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. "Can you believe our fight is finally over?" she gushed, twining her arms around his neck. "It's all we've ever wanted! We can go _home_ now, Steve."

He was sat at a dinner table. Hermione sat across from him and a small boy and girl sat on either side. The only sound was the almost mechanical scraping of the cutlery on the plates as his family politely cut up their food, raised a bite of it to their mouths, before cutting some more. Steve looked down at his plate and realised that his food was grey. He blinked and saw that, actually, _everything_ was grey; their furniture, clothes, skin, all of it.

" _Why can't you just be happy?"_ Hermione screeched at him as they stood in their bedroom. She picked up an ornamental plate and threw it at him but it smashed into the wall behind him. _"Why can't you accept that this is a life – our life?_ " Another plate crashed above his head. _"I thought this is what you wanted! I thought you loved me!"_ Smash. _"Who are you?!"_

 _Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?_ The question chased itself around inside his brain as two different projectors showed clips from his life.

' _Captain America saves the day again!'_ the World War Two news reel announced as the other film showed Hermione with a white flower in her hair as she said, _'…do take you, Steven Grant Rogers…'_

' _The soldier,'_ Loki scoffed…

Hermione's faced stared at the camera, her face shining with exertion. _'It's a girl?! Oh, Steve, how wonderful…'_

' _Cap, what are your orders?'_ Tony demanded.

' _Can I have story, Daddy?'_ the little girl looked no more than two.

"You have to pick one." Doctor Erskine, the man whose super soldier serum had transformed his life, stood between the two projections. "You can have one, or the other, but not both."

Both films continued to play.

' _Did you see my home run, Dad?'_ a teenage boy asked, grinning delightedly.

"No," Steve said firmly to Erskine.

The doctor transformed into the Red Skull. _"Choose!"_

He was back at the grey dining table with Hermione's earlier shrieks echoing in his mind along with the smashed plates. He glanced out of the window, hoping for a bit of colour but, where he should have seen a vague reflection of himself, there was nothing. He looked down and saw that he'd faded away to nothing…

" _Choose!"_

The images on the projectors flickered past almost too fast for him to make out what they showed.

 _Choose who you are! Choose who you are! Choose who you are! Choose who you are! Choose who you are! Choose who you are! Choose who you are! Choose who you are! Choose who you are!_

DO IT NOW!

Steve yelled, screwing his eyes shut and clawing at his head.

ACCEPT WHO YOU ARE!

The screaming stopped and he tentatively opened his eyes, afraid of seeing the choice he had made.

* * *

Hermione groggily came to. She could tell that she'd been drugged and, for a moment, she feared that she was back on Sanctuary with Thanos. But the sunset that pierced into her eyes would never be possible on that desolate rock.

She tried to piece together what had happened. The last thing she remembered was waiting anxiously in the quinjet with Bruce. As soon as the team had entered the ship, something had started interfering with their communications and she could no longer make out what they were saying.

"Hey, come on," Bruce had said, placing a comforting hand on her back as she chewed her lip worriedly, "You're the one that's supposed to be keeping _me_ calm."

When the gunshots started ringing out, it took all of her willpower not to apparate straight over. "Steve said to go if the situation went south," she said to Bruce. "That sounds pretty south, right?"

Bruce stood up and fiddled with some of the switches on the jet. "Hey, guys, is it a code silver… Or maybe a code green?" he asked, referring to each of their colours. There was only a distorted crackle in response. Hermione lowered the door to get a better view of what was going on. The gunshots were much clearer as well as other distinct clangs and bangs.

"I don't like it," she muttered, pushing her mask down over her eyes in preparation. "I'm going in."

"Wait," Bruce said, grabbing her arm. "It's stopped."

They had paused in anticipation for a while but that was the last thing she remembered. The only explanation she had for the sudden change was that someone had acted too quickly for her to be able to react: Pietro Maximoff.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw the three of them standing over her: Pietro, Wanda and Ultron. They appeared to be somewhere in the African wilderness and her heart beat frenetically as she contemplated about what had happened to her friends.

"About time," Pietro muttered. "Now you can get your answers and then we can dump her."

"Now, now, Pietro," Ultron chastised, "That's no way to treat a guest."

" _You_ didn't have to carry her all this way," Pietro grumbled.

Their words were difficult to make out because there was a dull, continuous thundering noise in the background. Whatever drug they'd used to sedate her was making it almost impossible for her to move her body but that didn't mean she was entirely defenceless. Mentally, she struck out at them as powerfully as she could with her magic and they were all knocked to the ground, giving her a small sense of satisfaction.

"Not one to give up easily, are you?" Ultron muttered, rising imperiously to his feet, "An annoying trait the Avengers share."

Wanda was looking at her curiously and Hermione concentrated on shielding her somewhat foggy mind from her manipulations. "She is attempting to block me from her thoughts," Wanda murmured. "But the sedative is interfering. I can still get flashes and hints."

Hermione tried to push her away both mentally and with another burst of magic but the attempts were weak and Wanda merely stumbled a little.

"Stop that," Pietro ordered, standing in front of his sister defensively. "Or we throw you in Zambezi now and be done with it."

 _Zambezi_. The thundering noise she could hear made sense now. The Zambezi was the river in Africa that flowed down Victoria Falls – one of the largest waterfalls in the world. If they did throw her in the water when her body was so unresponsive, she would either drown or meet a grisly end as she plummeted over a hundred metres down the waterfall.

"She understands the danger she is in," Wanda said knowingly.

"Then I suggest you be a bit more cooperative," Ultron said to Hermione. "The more time you spend answering my questions, the more your body will recover and the greater your chance will be of surviving your unavoidable dip in the river."

Nobody needed to delve into her mind to see the contempt she held for those words and Pietro shook his head muttering, "You think she'd be grateful we give her chance of life."

"We know about your magical community," Ultron said. The abruptness with which he hurled this revelation caught her by surprise and her breath snagged in her throat.

"I saw your vision," Wanda told her, watching her intently. "Magic and Avenger fighting each other; too busy _destroying_ each other to stop the alien threat. And I saw _you_ , the cause of all the world's tears."

Wanda's words triggered flashes of recollection in her head that she'd desperately been trying to supress the last few days.

"For someone born with all knowledge, finding out something new is a bit of a thrill," Ultron murmured, his gleaming red eyes becoming brighter in the fading light. "The problem is we only know what Wanda has seen. Magic's been kept well under wraps but I need to know more. Are you what humanity is evolving into? Are you the next step? Are you better?"

Hermione closed her eyes, determined not to give him any more information than she'd already unwittingly done so. As far as revelations went, the knowledge that Ultron and the Maximoffs knew she wasn't the only magical person was very bad, but it wasn't catastrophic to her way of life. Magical life couldn't be exposed if they didn't have any proof and Hermione certainly wasn't going to give them any. Once she had control of her body, she could modify Pietro and Wanda's minds and she had faith that the Avengers could find a way to eradicate Ultron. That's if her friends were still alive… She still had no idea of what had happened at the salvage yard.

Icy water enveloped her body. She tried to struggle, to get herself out of the river but her body just wasn't responding. Water poured down her throat and up her nostrils and her brain screamed for air.

She was back on dry land in an instant; retching, coughing and spluttering as she gasped in oxygen.

"We thought you'd fallen asleep," Ultron claimed lightly but Hermione knew he'd been aware of _exactly_ what he'd asked Pietro to do. "So, in case you are only capable of processing one question at a time right now, let's start with how long magical kind has existed?"

The dip in the water had actually sharpened her mind and Hermione concentrated on not giving any sort of mental response.

"What numbers do they exist in?" Ultron pressed. After a moment he glanced at Wanda whose face was wrinkled with effort.

"I can't get through," she murmured.

"This is waste of time!" Pietro cried angrily.

Ultron grabbed her bodily and raised her up to his eye level. "Are you better than the rest of humankind?" he demanded, shaking her aggressively, and breaking her focus for a moment.

"No," Wanda said softly. "They're not."

Hermione hung uselessly in Ultron's hold as he turned to Wanda. "What did you see?"

"Suffering, darkness and war," Wanda answered. " _She_ has seen it."

Ultron let out a growl of disappointment and carelessly let Hermione drop to the ground.

"That is disappointing," Ultron muttered, sounding genuinely saddened. "Even an evolved humanity still suffers the same flaws."

Hermione looked at the twins and trusted that there was a part of them that could be reached. With a concentrated effort, she whispered, "It's not…too late…We can help you."

Wanda eyed her warily but Pietro's expression was much more hostile. "Captain America say the same thing. You two are definitely suited to each other," he chuckled and then tilted his head to the side as though considering something. "Although, what my sister say of his dream…" He shrugged. "Maybe that's not true after all." A rush of adrenaline ran through her body at the revelation that Steve was likely still alive and Pietro saw the hope in her eyes. "Don't be excited, they're not going to be pleased to see you," he warned, "Assuming you live that long…"

Hermione was immersed in the water again but she knew that Pietro wasn't going to pull her out this time. She tried not panic as the pull of the river flung and twisted her body around like a ragdoll as she raced towards the waterfall. Her lungs started to burn but she determinedly kept her mouth closed. She only had one chance to get out of the river and there was no guarantee she was going to be successful. She waited until the river's flow forced her body to spin and she concentrated harder on a disapparation than she'd ever done in her life…

Hermione collapsed against something hard and dry, once again gratefully filling her lungs with much-needed air. From where she lay face down on the wooden floor, she couldn't see if she'd managed to avoid splinching herself but she took heart from the fact that she wasn't in great pain.

She'd had an old S.H.I.E.L.D safe house in Johannesburg in mind when she'd disapparated and she could only assume that was where she presently was. Apart from a surprisingly large number of sirens from nearby emergency services, everything seemed to be calm…

Hermione jerked awake.

Although she could move much more freely now, she was annoyed with herself for falling under the sedative's influence again.

She got to her feet stiffly and had to use the wall to maintain her balance. Night had well and truly fallen so she turned the room's lights on with a wave of her hand. At best, the room could be described as derelict. Someone had certainly been in it since the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D because all that remained was a battered old television. Hermione staggered over to it. Ultron and the Maximoffs had seen fit to remove any technology she'd possessed so she had no immediate way of contacting the others (apart from her patronus which could be unreliable). She knew she could portkey herself in stages to get back to the Tower but she was also aware that a few minutes' rest was required before she undertook such a concentrated effort. She switched on the TV, hoping that nothing about Ultron or his exploits had made it onto the news.

 _Ultron_ wasn't on the news but what was, if possible, was even worse; Hulk had gone on the rampage right there in Johannesburg. There was footage of him battling the Hulkbuster version of Iron Man but it didn't seem to have been a quick fix. The text across the screen showed the numbers of casualties and estimated the cost of the damage caused. The sirens she'd heard earlier certainly made sense now.

Her heart ached for the turmoil Bruce was no doubt feeling and she felt awful for letting Bruce down by not being there to protect him from himself. Was that what Pietro had meant when he said the Avengers wouldn't be pleased to see her?

The fear and uncertainty of not knowing what had happened to her friends gave her all the focus she needed to complete her extensive journey back to New York. When the final portkey successfully placed her in the Tower, she only just managed to shake off a wave of exhausted relief.

"Hello?" she called hoarsely. She cleared her throat and called out again. Seeing the lab was empty, she hurried over to Maria's office but paused in alarm when she opened the door and saw Maria pointing a gun in her face.

Maria lowered the weapon in relief. "Damnit, Hermione, you scared me! Well, at least your reappearance is _one_ bit of good news. God knows we need some. Are you alright? You… you don't look it."

Hermione explained how Ultron had wanted to question her (but didn't divulge it was about magic) and informed Maria how she had escaped after her unwanted dip into the Zambezi. "I saw on the news about Johannesburg. Is everyone else OK?"

Maria grimaced. "It sounds like Wanda Maximoff did a number on them but… they'll recover. I advised them to stay away from the public eye until we can get a lead on Ultron. The jet's in stealth mode at the moment but I'll see if I can raise them."

She typed into the computer and Hermione walked around the desk so she could see the screen. After a brief pause, Clint's face showed up on the screen. He was clearly piloting the jet so it took a couple of seconds before he actually looked at them but his surprise at seeing Hermione was evident.

"Hey, Mei-mei," he said softly. "I'm glad to see you're OK."

His voice was so quiet that she could hardly hear him. "Thanks. Maria says we took a bit of a hit."

Clint nodded grimly. "You could say that. Look, it's not a great time to talk. I'm going to send you co-ordinates of a safe house we're headed to. We're still a while away yet but I know it won't be a problem if you head over on your own and get some rest."

"OK…" Something wasn't quite right – and it wasn't just because of the impact of Wanda Maximoff's mind games. "Clint –"

"We'll talk later," he promised, "Just get some rest."

The screen went blank and the coordinates came through. Hermione glanced at Maria but the other woman looked nonplussed.

Hermione took the time to pack a few basics and then travelled to the safe house. It was dark but she could see the outline of a farmhouse – a very different type of S.H.I.E.L.D recommended building than she was used to.

She walked tentatively up the porch steps. The house might come Clint-recommended, but she wasn't foolish enough to approach without vigilance. The front door opened without resistance when she pushed it. "Um, hello? Is anyone there? Clint Barton sent me." A light glowed faintly from a room at the back of the house so she walked towards it.

"Who are you?" a somewhat fearful female voice called back and Hermione paused, holding up her hands to show she meant no harm.

She opened her mouth to respond but struggled over what response to give. "Clint calls me Mei-mei," she answered eventually. Hermione heard footsteps and then the woman stepped out of the shadow.

" _You're_ _Mei-mei?_ "the woman gasped, staring at her in amazement. The expression Hermione wore was more quizzical in nature as she took in the woman's large, pregnant stomach. "You're the _Sorceress_?"

Hermione nodded, seeing no reason to deny it.

The woman's face widened into an excited smile. "Oh, wow, it's so nice to finally meet you," she said warmly. "Clint's told me so much about you."

"I…wish I could say the same," Hermione replied awkwardly.

The woman laughed and held out a hand. "I'm Laura," she introduced, "Clint's wife."

"Clint's – _what?!"_

* * *

A/N Thanks for reading.

Next time, the Avengers have a little chat...


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hey, you guys! Sorry about the wait. Thank you for all the ways you continue to support this story!

* * *

They heard the sound of the front door swinging open, swiftly followed by Clint's call of, "Honey? I'm home."

Cooper and Lila Barton exchanged excited grins. "Dad!" they whispered breathlessly to each other before tearing out of the bedroom, leaving Hermione in their wake. Despite having had a few hours to get used to idea, she still couldn't quite believe that Clint had a wife and children…

"Wow, it's tidy in here!" Clint's voice travelled up the stairs, despite the children's thundering footsteps. "I guess you got the heads up that we were coming."

"We did," Laura confirmed.

As she walked down the stairs, Hermione heard Clint introduce Laura to the others before the children burst onto the scene.

"Dad!"

"Hey, there you are!" Clint cried animatedly.

"Dad, did you see who's already here?" Lila asked excitedly as Hermione took the final couple of steps. All heads swivelled in her direction.

"See, I told you she was fine," Clint said to the Avengers.

A look of immense relief passed over Steve's face as he walked over to her. "Thank God," he muttered, holding her in his arms for a moment before pulling away. "Will you _stop_ getting abducted for just a few minutes?" He tried to sound teasing but the frustration was still evident.

"She already knew about this?" Tony accused, looking between Hermione and Clint. "Of course she did, I don't even know why I'm surprised by the deceit."

"No, she didn't," Clint replied evenly. "I gave her the coordinates a few hours ago when she contacted the jet."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Thor asked.

"Because you knew I wouldn't want her here," Tony muttered, causing a flash of shock to race through her body.

"Hey!" Clint said sharply. "This is _my_ house and you are all guests here. There's no fighting under this roof."

"I apologise, Barton, Mrs Barton and…little Bartons," Tony said stiffly and then turned frostily to Hermione and Steve. "I need to talk to you outside."

"Stark –" Clint protested.

"I cannot stand here and pretend to play 'Happy Families'," Tony muttered, pushing past them. "There are things that need to be said."

Hermione gripped Steve's arm tightly. _What's happened?_ The solemnity of the look he sent her chilled her even further. _Do…do they know? Did Wanda tell them?_ Steve nodded stiffly and Hermione couldn't contain a gasp.

She could feel the pinpricks where the others' wounded stares were boring into her brain and nausea settled in her stomach. She forced herself to look at them but, when she saw the way they gazed at her like a stranger, she wished she hadn't.

She turned to follow Tony out of the door and, as she did so, she heard Lila ask, "Dad, why is everyone sad?"

 _Because of me_ , Hermione realised.

Tony had already managed to put some distance between himself and the house as he strode angrily through the field.

"Come on," Steve encouraged gently, putting his arm around her shoulder. She took a deep breath and followed the path that Tony's footsteps had created. The front door swung again and she saw that the rest of the team had followed them out. She was glad; she didn't think she could face having this conversation more than once.

The morning dew was soaking the bottom of her trousers but all she could contemplate was the decisions she would have to make about her friends and their future once this talk was over…

Tony had come to a stop and was staring at her coldly as she approached.

"Tony," she began meekly, "I – "

"You know what really _gets_ me about all this?" Tony interrupted. His tone was darkly amused. "The utter _hypocrisy_ of it all. I mean, look at you both," he gestured to the way that Steve still had his arm around her, "The way you practically _shine_ with honour and virtue," he sneered. "What utter _bullshit_."

"This is not of Steve's doing," Hermione argued, "This is _my_ duplicity; keep him out of it."

"No," Tony said shortly. " _You_ didn't. He's known all along, hasn't he? So, why tell him and nobody else?" he asked hostilely and she pursed her lips. "Because you had a crush on him?"

"No!" she denied, "Because I knew I could trust him."

"Right," Tony nodded. "'Cause you'll never trust me, will you?"

"You just created a murderous robot without telling anyone," Steve reminded him.

"Not on purpose!" Tony argued.

" _Exactly_!" Hermione said. "You… you don't understand the level of secrecy magic has. There's a reason it has been successfully hidden for hundreds of years."

"Hundreds?" Bruce repeated in surprise and Hermione nodded.

"We keep ourselves away from non-magical people," she explained, "Sometimes live in completely separate societies so that magic isn't exposed."

"Why?" Natasha asked, "Why not come out and live in the open?"

"Do you really think that's what people want?" Hermione posed. "To live next door to someone far more powerful than them? Magic has always been feared and persecuted. With all the instability in the world at the moment, people would only be more terrified."

"So why did _you_ emerge from the shadows?" Thor asked.

"Director Fury," she replied and Tony scoffed.

"Of course, it's got his stink all over it."

"He'd become aware of magic's existence and wanted someone to liaise with so I was sent," she explained shortly.

"Why _you_?" Bruce asked.

"I suppose I was considered to be the best person for the job," she replied.

"A proficient liar?" Tony accused.

"Hey," Clint cut in. "I've lied to you too. Are you not mad about that?"

"It's not the same and you know it," Tony argued.

"We both lied to protect people," Clint pointed out. "OK, Granger did it on a much larger scale but she hasn't exactly hurt anyone."

"Yes, I have," Hermione said, looking at Tony. "I know my lies have hurt you but that was never my intention. I didn't know any of this would happen – I joined S.H.I.E.L.D so I could help people, _all_ people. I _hate_ having to lie to you all but I haven't had a choice."

"Ultron is trying to tear us apart," Clint warned.

"'Earth's Mightiest Heroes'," Steve muttered. "Pulled us apart like cotton candy." There was silence as they all reflected on how discordant and fractured they'd become.

"You haven't apologised," Tony murmured softly.

Hermione looked over to him. "What?"

"Are you not sorry?" he asked.

"Are _you_ sorry you built Ultron without telling the team?" she countered.

"I was trying to end the team," he retorted. "Isn't that the mission? Isn't that the 'why' we fight? So we can _end_ the fight, so we can go home?"

"Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die," Steve argued, "Every time."

"So now this is all _my_ fault again, is it?" Tony asked angrily. He pointed at Hermione, "She _lies_ and _manipulates_ us for years; hides something that could help _save_ the world but, no, I'm always the bad guy."

Hermione took a step towards him. "Tony – "

"No, I'm sick of it!" he yelled.

"I'm sorry that I've hurt you," she said emotively, tears forming in her eyes, "But I'm not sorry that I've done my job; magic is bigger than me and you."

"Bigger than the protection of this world?" he challenged, "The thing we all work towards?"

"Magic isn't the solution to everything," Hermione explained calmly.

"But I bet it would be a good help," Natasha murmured.

"Sometimes it only makes things worse, believe me," she replied, thinking of the chaos and suffering that Voldemort and other dark witches and wizards would have loved to spread all over the world.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked but Hermione pursed her lips. "What? Are you not going to tell us even though the secret's out?"

"She's not allowed to tell you," Steve explained. "There are laws, statutes."

"Statutes?" Bruce repeated. "You've got your own governing system? How developed is this community?"

Hermione shook her head. "Please, don't ask me anymore."

"If you've told Steve, why can't you tell us?" Bruce asked.

"Hermione arranged for me to become an official non-magical liaison," Steve answered and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Of course she did," he muttered, "Hermione Granger getting her way as usual, just skirting the line so she doesn't get her feet dirty."

"Yes, I pulled some strings," Hermione admitted, "So that there could be _somebody_ in my life that I wasn't lying to."

"What? Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?" Tony scoffed.

"Feel however you want, Tony, I don't care!" she yelled in frustration. "I've dedicated the last few years to two causes: protecting magic and protecting this world! And for those ideals I have been both physically and emotionally tortured, I have been experimented on, I have killed innocent people!" Her voice broke as flashes of her victims appeared in her mind but she carried on. "I have lost my _parents_ , probably a piece of my mind and a part of my soul but I am _still here_ because _that is who I am_!" she said punctuating each word powerfully despite the tears trickling down her cheeks. "I've never wanted to deceive anyone but that was my responsibility and I stand by it." She wiped her eyes and muttered, "Excuse me," as she turned back to the house.

"You said you hoped I wouldn't hate you," Tony's voice made her pause and she looked back at him. "In Killian's compound. When you were on drugs, you thought I'd hate you because of the lies."

Her heart beat in double time. "You knew I was lying?"

"I told myself it was just the narcotics talking," he replied, looking up at the peaceful clouds floating by above them, "That I knew who you were inside."

" _You do_ ," she insisted, trying to communicate the truth behind her words with just the strength of her gaze. Tony continued to look skywards.

" _I_ do," Clint said with confidence, after a significant pause, giving Hermione a supportive nod as he walked towards her. "I know that I always want you on my team, Mei-mei. But I'm going to hit the shower before you guys use up all the hot water." He patted her on the shoulder as he passed.

Bruce shrugged. "At least my Ultron-creating guilt has lessened slightly," he said as he walked past her. "I can't be upset with you for protecting others."

"And I guess you were more suited to the job than I ever realised," Natasha said as she limped over to her. Hermione sent a moderate healing charm towards her in concern. As she experienced the effect of the spell, Natasha gave her an appreciative look. "Thanks."

"Hermione Granger has never let me down," Thor told her gently and then his expression grew troubled. "But I saw something in that dream. The timing is not ideal…" he mused but then he shrugged his shoulders, "Or maybe it is; we have reached an impasse in our battle with Ultron after all…"

"Thor," Hermione prompted, hoping he'd get to the point.

"I need answers about my dream and I won't find them here," he explained.

Hermione finally understood that he was just looking for permission to leave without being viewed as insensitive or unsupportive of the team dynamic. "Go," she said shortly. He nodded, swinging Mjolnir and then abruptly took off.

Only Tony, Steve and Hermione remained.

"Do you hate me?" she asked Tony.

He looked at her with an air of indifference. "I thought you didn't care."

Hermione shook her head. "You know that's not true."

He held her gaze, as though searching her face for further deceit, so she looked back openly. "I don't hate you," he muttered, finally looking away. "But I don't like either of you very much right now."

Steve nodded. "That's OK, we understand."

Tony took a couple of steps away from them but then paused. "Just…give me time."

They waited until Tony was back at the porch before coming together again.

"Why didn't you tell them?" Steve asked as they walked slowly back to the house and Hermione knew at once what he was referring to: the consequences of a breach of the Statute of Secrecy.

"I'm just trying to kid myself that it won't come to that," she answered lowly. " _I_ can't bear the idea of someone modifying their memories so imagine how _they'd_ react?" They walked in silence for a few moments, reflecting on the conversation. "I can't believe this has happened," she murmured. "Just when I get back, everything starts to fall apart. I swear I must be cursed; this must be Umbridge's revenge or something." Steve put his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

"We'll find a way to make this right," he promised.

As they reached the porch, they could see Clint playing with his children through the window. Lila and Cooper were screeching with laughter. Laura appeared, handing Clint a mug of coffee and he kissed her and gave her pregnant belly an affectionate stroke.

"I'm so happy you're home, Dad," Cooper gushed.

Hermione felt Steve's whole body tense next to her. "Ah, maybe we should give everyone a bit of space?" he suggested, diverting the path of their walk to head down to the barn.

"Um, sure," she agreed, a little taken aback by his abrupt behaviour.

"What happened when you were taken?" Steve asked, so she told him about Ultron's desire to know more about magical kind. He was severely unimpressed when she told him of their nearly successful attempts to kill her.

Hermione recalled what Pietro had hinted about Steve's dream. Part of her wanted to keep quiet because she was scared about what he'd seen but she knew that, if he didn't tell her, she'd always worry about it.

"And what happened to you?" she probed gently as they stepped into the barn's dim interior. "I saw about Johannesburg."

Steve sighed, distracting himself by looking around at the barn's contents. "Wanda hit us bad."

Hermione waited but he didn't say any more. "You… you can talk to me, you know, if you want to." His fingers stilled on the archery target he'd been trailing his fingers across and, for the first time, she saw how deeply affected he was by his vision. "Steve?"

"I don't think you want to hear it," he murmured, avoiding her gaze.

Hermione stood in front of him and forced his head to look at her. "It's only a dream, remember? Just like you told me; it wasn't real." He nodded, wanting to believe her, but she knew how difficult it was to put aside your fears when they were played out so vividly in your head. "You know what I saw and, and sharing that fear with someone else, seeing it in the cold light of day, it takes some of the power away from it." She let him feel her love and support. "Let me take some of _your_ burden for once."

Steve nodded but it took him a few moments to say anything. "Our fight was over," he said softly. "You looked _so_ happy, everyone was celebrating. It was time to go home…" Hermione held his hand against her heart, silently supporting him to continue. He told her about their grey family, about their unhappiness together and how he was forced to choose between being Captain America or a life and family with her. He paused for a long time after this admission and she had to prompt him to continue.

"I… I didn't choose you," he said with a heaviness that squeezed at her heart. "My choice wasn't you."

Hermione swallowed thickly but gazed at him firmly, determined to be strong although his words had unsettled her greatly. " _You_ didn't choose anything," she reminded him firmly. "It was a _dream_ , Steve, nothing more. No one is asking you to make a choice between those parts of your life, my love, least of all me." She glanced at the door, picturing the farmhouse and the happy family within, causing a quiver of disquiet to settle in her stomach. "But… I, I have to be honest with you, Steve, it wouldn't be fair otherwise."

She had avoided talking about their future since she'd returned, but it was only right they had this discussion. Worry creased his forehead and she spoke before her fear overtook her. "The Barton family…I, I can't give you that now if that's what you want. If we get married, I'm not going to be the wife who waits at home and cooks the dinner."

"I don't want you to," he protested, drawing his eyebrows together in confusion. "I've never envisioned our future that way."

"And I don't want to start a family with the threat of Thanos on the horizon," she added. In the coming weeks, months or years, she planned on doing whatever it took to be ready for war when it came. She couldn't commit to the upbringing of a child during that time.

"That's not what I want either," Steve told her and the knot that had settled in her stomach loosened considerably. "I just want _you_. You're all I need."

Hermione's vision swam with tears of relief and she gave him a watery smile. "You're all I need," she repeated, stroking his face. "Steve, you're scared of what comes when the fighting's over because you know better than the rest of us how to get through a war," she told him gently. "That part doesn't scare you. But what comes beyond that, sweetheart, don't you remember when we talked about leaving S.H.I.E.L.D? _I_ don't know where I fit into this world either but I do know that I'll be somewhere with you. You're all I need."

Steve closed his eyes and leant his forehead against hers and she felt the tension seep out of him. "You're all I need."

She tilted her head upwards a fraction so that she could press her lips against his, savouring the feeling of being close to him. His left hand came up to cup her cheek while his right moved to the small of her back, bringing her even closer to him, eliciting small moans of pleasure from them both. Her body was suddenly humming with desire, a sensation she'd been bereft of for months on end, and, judging by the way Steve was passionately responding to her, the same was true for him too. He lifted her effortlessly and placed her on the closest surface – the wheel of a rather rundown tractor – and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. Every place that his hands touched, her body burned wonderfully but she wanted more, _needed_ more. She gasped with delight as his hand slid beneath the hem of her blouse and she silently urged him to go higher.

"Oh, hey, woah!" a surprised voice exclaimed, shattering their blissful escapism as they pulled apart instantly. Clint's face was a picture of shock. Hermione tried to unwrap her legs from Steve without Clint noticing that was where they were positioned but, if anything, her movements only drew his attention to them and he raised his eyebrows.

Steve cleared his throat. "Barton, I'm sorry, we – "

"No, hey, man I understand," Clint interrupted, probably feeling just as awkward as they did. "But, you know, this _is_ a family home so maybe if you guys could keep it in your pants until there aren't any kids around."

Hermione flushed, mortified. "Oh! No, we wouldn't have... We weren't going to," she gabbled but Clint held up a hand and she stopped.

"Maybe it's best if we just don't talk about it," he suggested and they both nodded in agreement. "Er, the reason I came down here was because Laura wants to know if you guys want some food."

"Yeah," Steve answered, still a little unsettled, "That would be great."

Hermione slid down from the tractor wheel. "I'll give her a hand."

It took a few minutes for Hermione's cheeks to return to their normal colour but she managed to distract herself by helping Laura dish up an expansive meal for the others. Steve wisely kept a little a distance between them and Hermione was grateful for this, because she still felt a little thrum of desire whenever she caught sight of him. This was hugely contrasted with the chilling shock of apprehension when her eyes landed on a member of her team, particularly Tony. Natasha and Bruce were still suffering from the effects of Wanda's interference. Hermione wished she could offer them some peace of mind but she knew how hard it was to overcome those fears.

Hermione was extremely grateful to be welcomed into the Barton home and she enjoyed performing simple magic to entertain Cooper and Lila (who was such a big fan she saw fit to dress up in her own Sorceress store-bought outfit), but she couldn't help but feel listless as their fractured team struggled to find their next direction. Sitting around and waiting for Ultron's next move wasn't the way to stop him.

"Mom, look!" Cooper cried as Laura walked into the kitchen, "I'm a chameleon!"

The disillusioned Cooper spun on the spot and Laura's eyes struggled to take him in. "Wow," she murmured, "That's incredible!"

"It can make for a very difficult game of hide and seek," Hermione commented as Lila stood next to her and waved her hands around pretending to cast spells.

Laura chuckled. "Yeah, I bet. Um, Hermione, Clint said that you wouldn't mind but our tractor in the barn…" Hermione glanced at her sharply, a hot flash of embarrassment spreading across her chest as she recalled _exactly_ which tractor Laura was referring to. "It doesn't seem to want to start at all. Would you mind…?"

"You want me to fix it?" Hermione asked, more than a little relieved. "Yes, of course, that's no problem."

However, when Hermione got down to the barn, she saw that it wasn't as deserted as she'd assumed. Tony was already standing next to the tractor but he was looking at something in the back of the barn that she couldn't see.

"You're not the director of me," Tony said, unaware of Hermione's presence.

"I'm not the director of anybody," an unmistakeable voice replied, taking her by surprise, "I'm just an old man who cares very much about you."

Tony seemed to struggle with his emotions for a moment. "And I'm the man who killed the Avengers," he announced, his voice wavering a little. "I saw it," he continued softly. "I didn't tell the team. How could I? I saw them all dead, Nick. I felt it. The whole world, too… Because of me."

Hermione couldn't breathe. What Tony said, his fears, they were her own.

"I wasn't ready," Tony muttered, shaking his head. "I didn't do all I could."

"The Maximoff girl, she's working you, Stark," Fury's voice called out warningly, "Playing on your fear."

"I wasn't tricked, I was _shown_ ," Tony argued emotively. "Wasn't a nightmare, it was my legacy. The end of the path I started us on."

"You've come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony," Fury said, finally walking into her line of sight as Tony walked around to the other side of the tractor. "War isn't one of them."

"I watched my friends die," Tony admitted quietly. "You'd think that'd be as bad as it gets right?" He shook his head. "Nope. It wasn't the worst part."

"The worst part is you didn't," Hermione called softly, drawing their attention to her. "It hasn't happened yet."

Tony braced his hands on the side of the tractor and bent down, taking a deep breath. When he glanced up he looked accusingly between them. "Are you two ganging up on me?"

"No," she denied quickly, "I didn't know you were here. Laura asked me to – "

"Fix the tractor?" Tony interrupted and she nodded, making him frown at Nick. "You know, your attempts at emotional support would be more convincing if you hadn't spent the last three years lying to me about magic, Nick."

Fury glanced quickly at Hermione but she looked away. "I see."

" _I see_?" Tony repeated scathingly. "I find out that everything Granger's ever told me about herself is a lie – that there's a whole magic _world_ out there that you've never thought to mention – and all the response I get is, 'I see'?!"

"Do you want me to pat you on the back and tell you I'm sorry?" Fury offered sarcastically. "You're not a child, Tony, and the world is not that simple."

"You should've told me," Tony insisted.

"Why?" Fury demanded.

Tony stared at him. "Are you – are you _serious_?"

"What would you have done if you'd known?"

"I don't know!" Tony replied a little flustered, "Research, I guess? This could change the way we live."

"Right," Fury nodded. "Like your research with the Sceptre?"

"Hey," Tony said angrily, pointing a finger at him, "Your work with the Tesseract was no better. And what about those helicarriers that nearly wiped out millions of people?"

"Exactly," Fury agreed, "Which is why magic's probably better off staying where it is; out of the hands of people like us." Hermione was surprised that Fury had come to that conclusion. She knew how much he'd wanted to know more about magic. Perhaps his months away from S.H.I.E.L.D had given him time to reflect.

Tony stared at Fury heatedly for a moment but then turned back to the tractor and started noisily investigating its engine.

"I saw it too, Tony."

His hands stilled at her words so she carried on.

"Everyone dead… because of _me_ , because _I_ hadn't done enough, because _I_ had brought Thanos here… Apparently, you and I aren't as different as we thought." She raised a hand cautiously and placed it on his shoulder. "You don't have to go through this alone. _You can't_. Nobody can. We're stronger together…"

Light was starting to fall as Hermione walked Fury up to the house.

"It's good to see you," he told her.

"And you, sir," she replied truthfully. She always felt a little stronger knowing his support was behind her.

"I'm not your boss anymore, Granger," he reminded her.

"No, I suppose you're not…"

"You know, you _can_ call me Nick."

* * *

A/N Hope you liked it! I LOVED writing the confrontation scene - it had been in my mind for such a long time that it was so nice to finally get it typed out.

Until next time!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hello, loves! Thank you for all your support, as always.

* * *

Hermione squeezed through the crowd of smartly dressed commuters that had packed out the platform of Blackfriars as they waited impatiently for the next underground train to arrive. People let out exasperated sighs as she passed and attempted to shuffle out of her way but they had no interest in sparing her a glance. A distant rumbling grew louder as the train approached and the crowd all watched, planning the route they would take to make sure they got a spot on board.

She reached the end of the platform just as the train ground to a halt and the commuters pressed forwards eagerly. Hermione held out her palm against the wall's silver panelling and looked at the graffiti of a winking face that someone had scrawled onto it. "Ego servire et tueri," she whispered. The face opened its eye and then winked again and Hermione was sucked through the panelling. On the other side, Kingsley stood waiting for her in a small, comfortably furnished room. They had been using it as their meeting spot shortly after Hermione accepted her position with S.H.I.E.L.D so that no one would be suspicious of the Minister for Magic meeting a simple employee from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

She couldn't help but notice how much older he looked since she'd last seen him but she suspected that could be said of her appearance too.

"At last," he murmured fondly, greeting her with a slow nod. "I can't help but think it's a small miracle that you are back here again."

"You don't need to tell _me_ that," she replied nervously. There was much she needed to tell him but also a lot she was too anxious to: her wandless abilities, the Avengers' knowledge of magic and the potential global destruction Ultron had planned. It was _not_ going to be a pleasant discussion; assuming, of course, that she shared all of that with him…

After a sitdown with Fury, The Avengers had temporarily split in different directions to tackle Ultron on multiple fronts.

"Ultron took you folks out to buy himself more time," Fury had told them as he fixed himself a sandwich in Clint's kitchen, while the others stood around contemplating their next move. "My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked.

"Ah, he's easy to track, he's everywhere," Fury replied. "Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on his plans though."

"He still going after launch codes?" Tony queried.

"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway."

Tony looked surprised. "I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare."

"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at Nexus about that," Fury replied.

"Nexus?" Steve enquired, not familiar with the term.

"It's the world internet hub in Oslo," Bruce explained, "Every byte of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth."

"So, what did they say?" Clint asked.

"He's fixated on the missiles," Fury revealed, "but the codes are constantly being changed."

"By whom?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Parties unknown," Fury answered simply.

Natasha looked hopeful. "Do we have an ally?"

"Ultron has an enemy," he corrected. "That's _not_ the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"I might need to visit Oslo," Tony suggested, "find our unknown."

"Well, this is good times, boss," Natasha commented wryly, looking over at Fury, "But I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that."

"I do," he shrugged, "I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here we all are," he raised his glass in a toast to Hermione, "back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction." He motioned to them all. "All this, laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," Natasha teased semi-seriously and he looked at her exasperatedly.

"You know what, Romanoff?" he muttered but she smiled mischievously at him.

"So, what does he want?" Fury posed to them all.

"To become better," Steve answered, "Better than _us_. He keeps building bodies."

"Person bodies," Tony agreed. "The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

"When he asked me about magic users, he wanted to know if we were the next step," Hermione revealed, "if we were _better_ than the rest of humankind. We're _not_ , in case any of you were wondering, and Ultron came to see that too. He was really disappointed so I don't think he intends to protect magical people from his plans."

Natasha frowned at Tony and then at Bruce. "When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed."

Bruce was staring at a painting of a butterfly that Lila had given to her 'Auntie Nat'. "They don't need to be protected," he murmured. "They need to evolve." He looked up at them with an air of certainty. "Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Fury asked.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" he enquired. Everyone exchanged worried glances.

"Is her Cradle capable of building him the body he wants?" Hermione asked.

"Not normally," Bruce replied, "but when you factor in the mind-expanding power of the Sceptre and the Vibranium Ultron took…" he nodded solemnly. "Then, yes."

"Looks like we're going to Seoul," Steve said, appearing a little relieved to have a small plan of action in their battle against Ultron. Hermione knew he'd disliked their lack of direction just as much as she had but she didn't feel like Seoul was where she needed to be. Fury was watching her and she wondered whether he knew what she was thinking.

"Do you think you can go without me?" she asked Steve and he looked at her in surprise.

"Where are you going to be?"

"I'm… going to request help," she announced.

" _Your_ kind of help?" Tony asked and she nodded. "I thought it was too big of a secret."

"We're talking potential global destruction," she replied. "That can't be ignored and magical assistance in those situations… it's not _completely_ unprecedented," she admitted.

"It's _not_?" Clint said in surprise.

"Well, it sure would've been nice if they'd shown up in New York," Tony muttered. He noticed the way Hermione pressed her lips together and how Steve shifted awkwardly. "S _eriously_?"

The team had split up not long after, with Natasha and Clint heading to Seoul with Steve, and Nick dropping off Bruce and Hermione at the Tower. She'd reached out to Kingsley requesting an urgent meeting but, given the time difference between the UK and the States, she'd had to wait until morning to be in London.

"So, does this urgent meeting have anything to do with the carnage that occurred in Johannesburg a couple of days ago?" Kingsley asked, astute as always.

"I'm afraid so," she answered with a sigh, taking a seat in the armchair he indicated.

"The world is under some sort of threat?" he posed and Hermione nodded. "But… you have time to sit and talk with me about it?"

"We are pretty sure the threat is imminent, Minister," she explained, "just not at this precise moment."

Kingsley raised an eyebrow and surveyed her gravely. "Let us hope you are correct about that."

"Yes, sir," she replied. "It all started last week – "

"I'm sorry, Hermione," Kingsley interrupted, "but you can't expect me to ignore the fact that you have been away from this _planet_ for _eighteen months_! Now, I do not doubt you when you say there is a threat but if you have time to sit with me, you have time to tell me what happened to you."

Hermione shifted in her seat. Unsurprisingly, she had been hoping to avoid talking to Kingsley about Thanos at that moment. He deserved to know, there was no question about that, but it was so difficult and painful to revisit those memories yet again. And what of Thanos' experiments? What would the Minister of Magic make of _that?!_ Kingsley was a sensible man but the emergence of someone with such capabilities would not be welcome news even if it was her who held them. She didn't _want_ to tell him but did she dare conceal her power from him? No, she admittedly skirted very close to a lot of laws but even she wasn't foolish enough to deceive the Minister for Magic himself. Besides, if she was going to receive any help from him in dealing with Thanos in the future, she couldn't give him any reason to refuse her.

"Start with that dreadful business in Washington DC," he prompted, referring to Project Insight. So she told him: about HYDRA, Zola's algorithm, her Fidelius charm, her assault on the helicarriers, about the Winter Soldier and the release of S.H.I.E.L.D's intelligence. She spoke of what she knew about her abduction, her torture, the lies she was told about Earth and her vow to put an end to Thanos' rule. When she told him that Thanos had fused her wand core to her spine, he leaned towards her intently and drew his brows together.

"What does that mean?" he asked; the first words he'd spoken in what felt like hours.

Hermione's heartrate soared as she prepared to answer him. This was the moment that could define her entire future. However, if Ultron had his way, her future would not be very long anyway. "This," she answered, lightly motioning with her hand and the coffee table next to them rose gently into the air. In quick succession, she shrank it, enlarged it, turned it grey, made it invisible, transfigured it into a horse and then returned it to its original state. She'd avoided looking at him during her casting but forced herself to now. He had covered his mouth with one of his hands and was staring at the table gravely.

After a few moments, he sighed deeply and shook his head. "That is most unfortunate," he muttered. He glanced up and must have seen the fearful look on her face for he patted her hand reassuringly. "I understand why it has taken you so long to come and admit this to me. You are right to try and keep this hidden. Magical kind hasn't seen abilities like that since – "

"Voldemort," she interrupted, unable to contain a shudder.

" _Or_ Dumbledore," he stressed and she nodded, more to satisfy him than herself. He sighed again. "If I'd known that this was where the path I'd put you on would lead…" he muttered regretfully.

"Don't say that," she whispered. "I, I think far more good has come of this journey than bad. We may well be grateful for this power in times to come." She continued her story, informing him of her travels aboard the Dark Aster, her alliance with Gamora, their battle with Ronan over the Orb and how she managed to return to Earth.

"Which takes us up to last week," she said and then told him about Sokovia, the Maximoff twins and the creation of Ultron.

"So," Kingsley said slowly once she had brought him up to date, "they instructed the robot to save the world and his means of doing that is to _destroy_ it?"

"Yes, in a nutshell," she answered simply, her fingers clasped tightly in her lap as she tried not to panic that, so far, she had _conveniently_ failed to mention about the Avengers knowing about magic.

"Muggles," he muttered, shaking his head. "The smarter they get, the more dangerous too."

"I hoped, sir, given the gravity of the situation, that it might be prudent to do all we could to prevent Ultron being successful," she said delicately.

"Meaning what, exactly?" he asked. Hermione had a feeling he knew precisely what she meant but he seemed determined to make her say it.

"When we find out what Ultron's plan is, witches and wizards are sent to stop it coming to fruition," she answered, before quickly adding. "It worked so well in New York, sir, and it would've been a different outcome had MACUSA not released their Aurors. Ultron is just as big of a threat – his knowledge is far greater than that of any human and he has an army of droids that follow his every command."

"But overcoming muggle engineering is no problem for you," Kingsley frowned. "Surely you could cast down scores of these robots with a wave of your hand."

"Sir, I don't think you comprehend the level of danger," Hermione argued, beginning to feel frustrated. "Ultron _knows_ the Avengers, possibly better than we know ourselves. He will have planned to exploit what he knows our weaknesses to be and I don't know if we can beat him by ourselves! If we fail, the consequences could be catastrophic to humankind – maybe even apocalyptic!"

"I'm sorry, Hermione, but no Minister around the world would risk exposing magic like that until they were sure there was no other choice. If muggles made this mess, surely muggles can fix it themselves. Besides, they've got _you_ , which, if you ask me, is far more than they deserve."

Hermione thought quickly, trying to think of another way she could try to convince Kingsley to give them assistance.

"Can you imagine what chaos someone like Stark could cause if he knew about magic?" he muttered lowly. "The man is a walking disaster."

Hermione frowned, disproportionately hurt by the Minister's comment. "With respect, sir, you don't know him like I do. His actions, though reckless, were designed to protect everyone, to achieve _peace_."

"He was just a little wide of the mark then," Kingsley muttered sarcastically. He seemed to notice how unamused she was and he cleared his throat. "Hermione, I appreciate that this wasn't easy for you and you know I am eternally grateful for all you have done and sacrificed to protect magical kind. Through thick and thin, I know I can trust you."

Guilt twisted her stomach at his words of praise. She _had_ to tell him.

"I'm sorry that our talk hasn't produced the outcome that you wanted," Kingsley said, rising from his seat and she automatically did likewise. "Of course, if the situation truly does prove to be more serious, we can reconsider the best course of action. Now, I had better return to the Ministry before anyone gets too suspicious of where I am."

With a start, Hermione realised that time was rapidly running out… "Sir, wait!" she called and he turned back to her expectantly. "They… they found out… about magic…" She took a shaky breath. "Sir, the Avengers know I'm not the only one capable of magic." Kingsley simply stared at her. "The hallucination I had, Wanda Maximoff could see it, and she told them about seeing other witches and wizards. There was nothing I could have done to prevent it, sir; I didn't even know what had happened until I re-joined them afterwards."

"Hermione," he said heavily but she didn't give him the chance to continue.

"Sir, I know what you're going to say but, _please_ , you don't know what's coming like I do. When Thanos arrives we won't have the luxury of deciding whether we want to join forces with the muggles or not – we will be fighting for our very existence. We need to start working alongside them before it's too late!"

" _Hermione,_ " he attempted again but she carried on.

"It sounds crazy, I know, but I'm possibly the only person who's qualified to propose this, who can see this from both perspectives, and I've been across the Galaxy, I _know_ what we're up against and I know that if we keep the world separate, we'll _lose_."

He regarded her silently and she couldn't tell whether that was a good thing or not.

"That decision is far beyond either you or me," he said solemnly. "We cannot possibly change hundreds of years of international magical security at the drop of a hat. Possibly my highest duty as Minister for Magic is to uphold the Statute of Secrecy and, if I discover a breach, I am bound by my office to report it."

"Exceptions can be made, sir, and you have the power to authorise them, just like you did for Captain America. Why can't the same be done for all of the Avengers? They risk their lives just as much as I do to protect the people of this world!"

"Today, _they_ are the reason the world _needs_ protecting!" Kingsley argued. "They cannot be trusted with this knowledge. You must perform the memory charms immediately."

" _Me_?!" Hermione gasped. "Why me?"

"You know them better than any other witch or wizard," he pointed, "You'll know how best to modify their memories effectively so that the charm is seamlessly carried out."

She shook her head in despair and disbelief. "They're… they're _family_ to me," she said, her voice trembling, "I could _never_ do that to them!"

"If you don't, someone else _will,_ you can be sure of that," he promised.

She'd put off fully thinking about the practically of upholding the Statute of Secrecy until now. Professional Obliviators were very skilled but they could make mistakes and, even when they didn't, the muggle's brain was never the same again. She couldn't let that happen to her friends… She _wouldn't_ …

"There must be some other way," she said desperately. "You, you can't carry out the memory charms when we're preparing to fight Ultron – that could compromise _everything_! It's too risky."

Kingsley shook his head. "I _cannot_ allow this breach to stand."

"What… what if there was a way to ensure they kept the secret," she said, thinking rapidly. "If I could come up with a spell that prevented them from speaking about magic?"

Kingsley weighed her suggestion in his mind. "Like a modification of the Fidelius charm?"

"Yes, maybe," she agreed readily. "I, I could figure it out, I know I could. Do you remember the enchanted parchment I got the members of Dumbledore's Army to sign? I was sixteen when I did that; I'm sure I can find a way to alter the enchantment to work for the Avengers too."

He crossed his arms and stared at the floor, considering, and Hermione held her breath. "The alien threat," he said eventually, "It's that serious?"

" _Yes_ ," she stressed. "You say you are grateful for what I do, and I never ask anything of you for doing my job…"

"Except making Captain America our muggle liaison," he reminded her.

She nodded, chastised, "Yes, OK, I did, and that has proven to be a _good_ decision. But, _please_ , sir, I beg you; let me work on this idea. Delay the Obliviators, let us fight Ultron, and give me time to show you the spell is possible. I will take full responsibility for any further transgressions if they should occur in that time but I know that they won't – the Avengers won't blab our secret."

Hermione held her breath again as her eyes continued her plea.

"Merlin, I hope I don't regret this," he sighed and she nearly passed out with relief. "You have forty-eight hours and then I'm sending the Obliviators."

* * *

Harry looked up at her in surprise. "Hermione! What are you doing here?"

She stepped further into his Auror cubicle and grabbed his hand. _Everything's falling apart! I need the details of your contacts in MACUSA – they helped last time so maybe they'll be more willing to do so again._

Harry grabbed his hand back, eyes wide. "How did you…?" he muttered and she suddenly remembered that she hadn't told Harry about her thought sharing. He shook his head. "Slow down, you're not making any sense."

"There isn't time!" she hissed. Various objects on his desk began to quiver, alarming them both. Harry stood abruptly.

"Let's get you out of here," he muttered and she just nodded as she tried to keep herself in check. She knew coming to the Ministry itself was a risk. She hadn't been near so many wizards and witches at once since she'd returned to Earth and her anxiety about her abilities being discovered was so high that she could hardly breathe. But time was short; she didn't have time to wait for Harry to respond to an owl…

Harry waved his wand and the items on his desk tidied themselves away. He put a supportive hand on her arm as he guided her towards the lifts, muttering reassuringly that everything was going to be alright.

Luckily, a lift appeared almost instantly and they stepped inside. The grating started to slide across but a pale hand stopped it and pushed it back. One of the very last people Hermione wanted to see stepped in the lift: Draco Malfoy.

He seemed a little surprised to see them but nodded civilly and muttered, "Potter, Granger," in greeting.

"Malfoy," they replied evenly.

The lift started its juddering journey and Hermione quickly reached up to the handle that dangled from the ceiling so that she kept her balance.

"Don't see you around here very often, Granger," Malfoy said, glancing at her curiously.

"I'm based abroad most of the time," she replied as calmly as she could.

"Right, magical creatures, isn't it?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, a long-term study."

The lift stopped at the next floor and a host of people entered, forcing the occupants to cram in tightly together. Harry gripped her arm tightly and she closed her eyes, focusing on remaining calm.

"Are you all right, Granger?" Malfoy asked. His voice was much closer than she'd expected and she looked at him in surprise.

"I'm fine," she said quickly, "I'm just more used to open, natural spaces now."

He was frowning at her but he made no further comment. The lift jerked again and she reached for the nearest handle. Unfortunately, Malfoy was already holding it. In her attempt to avoid physical contact with him, she nearly fell over, but Harry pulled her upright.

Mercifully, they arrived at the atrium soon after and everyone filed out.

"See you around, Granger, Potter," Malfoy called before he walked away.

She heard Harry release a huge sigh. "That was close," he admitted to her lowly as they made their way to the disapparation point. "Malfoy works in the Improper Use of Magic Office now."

" _What?!_ " she whispered in astonishment. "I thought he didn't work at all!"

"He doesn't need to with all that Malfoy money but I think he got bored," Harry replied. "Or maybe he's just trying to make amends; put the family name in a good light."

"So… part of his job is to uphold and protect the Statute of Secrecy?" Hermione asked, her voice on the verge of being hysterical.

"Yeah."

She swallowed thickly. "Thank Merlin you didn't tell me that beforehand, I was struggling to cope as it was."

They apparated to their familiar spot in the Forest of Dean and Hermione quickly explained about Ultron and her meeting with Kingsley. The more she said, the deeper Harry's head disappeared into his hands.

"Well, this is a right mess," he muttered when she'd finished. "Do you think you can get that spell to work?"

"I _have_ to," she replied. "And I haven't got long to do it – and that's if we're all still alive by that point!"

"Ultron's that dangerous?"

" _Definitely_ ," she nodded. "So, can you give me your contacts in MACUSA?"

"I can do better, I'll go to them myself," he offered.

Hermione hugged him gratefully. "Thank you. You know I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate."

"And if that still doesn't work, you'll just have to settle for plain old me!" he announced.

"Harry, no!" she objected. "It's too dangerous. What about Ginny and James?"

"Look, if this robot wants to end the world, I've got to do all I can to protect them!" he argued. "And I can't ask others to place themselves in danger if I'm not prepared to do it myself. You say we've got forty-eight hours, well, it doesn't matter if the Avengers know about me too during that time, does it?"

Hermione put a hand to her head in consternation. "Kingsley didn't give permission for British aurors to help."

"I'm the backup liaison," Harry reminded her. "If this isn't the time for a backup, I don't know what is. Look, the dragon's already hatched; we might as well go with it…"

* * *

"That's… _a lot_ of books," Bruce commented as he walked into the office she was using. Hermione had got a hold of every book she owned that featured spells and enchantments that might help her perfect her secret spell. She'd spent the last few hours reading as fast as she could and scribbling notes on various bits of parchment while Harry tried his luck with the MACUSA aurors. "Is this going to help us with Ultron?" Bruce asked as he handed her a cup of tea and a sandwich. When she glanced up, she was surprised to find it was dark outside. Time was moving far more quickly than she'd like.

"Hopefully this will help us soon," she replied evasively. She wasn't willing to risk angering Bruce by telling him that wizards wanted to modify his mind.

"Hey, anyone home?" Tony's voice called out.

"In here!" Bruce replied.

Tony appeared a few moments later and raised his eyebrows at the chaotic scene within. "Wow. And here I thought you were a neat freak," he muttered. He picked up one of the books curiously but Hermione quickly summoned it out of his hands.

"Don't even think about it," she answered, not taking her eyes away from the page she was scanning.

"Really? Not even _one_?" Tony whined.

"Alright," she replied evenly. She conjured a dictionary into his eager hands. "Do me a favour and look up the word, 'secret' in that one."

Bruce laughed but Tony scowled.

"Did you have any luck on the magical assistance front?" he asked, chucking the dictionary to the side.

"Hermione?" Harry's voice called. Bruce and Tony looked at each other in surprise.

"I guess we're about to find out," she answered seriously, before shouting. "I'm here!"

"Wait – you haven't, that's not a," Bruce spluttered.

The expected figure appeared in the doorway. "Hello," he greeted amiably, "I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

* * *

Hermione rubbed circles into her temples. She was making progress with the magical theory but the other distractions weren't helping. Clint had arrived with Ultron's latest attempt at a body _alone_. Apparently, Steve was last heard of with the Maximoffs (who had finally seen sense and deserted Ultron's cause) but it was feared that Natasha was in Ultron's clutches. Bruce somewhat reassuringly pointed out that Natasha was alive because otherwise Ultron would've been rubbing their faces in it. Clint was checking various radio frequencies in case Natasha tried to contact them and Hermione had left Bruce and Tony to dispose of the vibranium body in order to return to her work. Harry was attempting to assist her but they both knew he was not being very useful. Unfortunately, his meeting with MACUSA had been no more successful than hers was with Kingsley – with so little information about Ultron's plan, they weren't willing to take such a risk.

Harry went to get her another cup of tea and, when he returned, he was rather alarmed to see that her latest attempt at her new spell had caused the parchment to burst into flame. She extinguished it with a frustrated swipe of her hand.

"You'll get there," he reassured her, "I know you will. It's only been a few hours – there's still time."

"Thanks," she muttered looking back through her notes to see where she'd gone wrong.

"So, what exactly are Banner and Stark doing in the lab?" Harry questioned, carefully picking his way through the books to place the mug on the floor next to her.

"Using their scientific knowledge to disassemble the body," she murmured. "I don't know the specifics."

"Yeah…" Harry muttered and then shook his head. "I don't think that's what they're doing."

Hermione looked up at him sharply. " _What?_ " she yelped, scrambling to her feet. "Wait here," she sighed and hurried to the lab, unable to believe that they could be doing something so stupid. She arrived seconds after Steve and the twins.

"I'm gonna say this once," Steve said angrily to the two scientists.

"How about none-ce?" Tony countered.

" _Shut it down_!" Steve ordered forcefully.

"Nope," Tony replied, continuing to fiddle with his tech. "Not gonna happen."

Hermione magically pulled out the tubes that powered the case containing the body. "It's happening."

"You beat me to it," Pietro said, sounding a little peeved. "Sorry for throwing you in river by the way."

Hermione shook her head and sent him an unfavourable look. "Now's not really the time," she advised sarcastically.

Tony looked at her coolly and then turned to one of his machines to continue his work.

"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda warned and Bruce turned to her coldly.

"Hey, you don't get to talk," he said.

"I know that you're angry," Wanda began.

" _Angry_?" he repeated with a laugh. "We're way past that; I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

Pietro rushed forwards and pushed Bruce away. "Back off," he cautioned.

The glass floor shattered under Pietro's feet and he fell to the level below, where Clint was waiting to restrain him.

"Pietro!" Wanda cried as Clint smirked down at him.

"What, you didn't see that coming?" he mocked.

A series of beeps emanated from the casket as the power began to fail and Tony sprang into action typing furiously to try to stop it. Steve threw his shield so that it bounced off and damaged various screens as Bruce grabbed and restrained Wanda. Tony summoned the arm of his suit and hit Steve with a repulsor blast, before doing the same to Hermione who had just apparated next to him. Having never experienced the effect of a blast from his suit before, the severity of the blow took her by surprise as she was propelled backwards to collide with the edge of the metal casket before she fell to the floor. She was fortunate that her ribcage was better protected after Thanos' experiments otherwise that would have seriously injured her. But Tony wasn't aware of the added protection and his eyes widened in surprise at what he'd done.

"Sorry," he said quickly but she let her anger get the better of her and she swatted him sideways with her magic.

Hermione briefly saw Harry run into the lab, his wand ready in hand but his mouth agape at the carnage, before another figure leapt onto the casket. Thor held Mjolnir aloft, summoning a huge amount of dazzlingly bright lightning and directing the energy into the casket.

Hermione stumbled backwards, shielding her eyes, as the computer systems beeped and trilled. When he was finished, they all stared at the casket in shock and waited to see what would happen. Hermione kept her magic at her fingertips, ready to act.

Suddenly, the lid exploded, hurtling Thor backwards as shattered glass peppered her quick shield. A figure sprang from the casket and crouched on the lid. Heart racing, Hermione stared at it warily, taking in its muscular reddish and metal figure as it slowly rose and surveyed them all. She caught a glimpse of something yellow glowing in his forehead but before she had the chance to get a closer look, the android launched itself at Thor.

Thor managed to grab it and hurled it through the glass wall of the lab and it soared right across the Tower before coming to a dead halt just before it collided with the glass exterior. It just floated there in mid-air, staring out at the Manhattan skyline, and Thor signalled to the others to approach cautiously.

"Um, is this sort of thing classified as a normal day for you guys?" Harry asked in a carrying whisper.

A number of heads shook in disagreement as they continued to stare at the creation.

Eventually, it turned around calmly and its body became greyer in colour like it had created a skinsuit for itself. "I am sorry," it said calmly, as it floated down to stand with them all. "That was…odd." Its voice was male and _very_ familiar. He turned to Thor. "Thank you," he said politely, a golden cloak materialised over its back and gloves formed over its hands.

"Thor," Steve said, sounding displeased, "You helped create this?"

"I've had a vision," Thor replied, "A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its centre is that." He pointed to the thing that Hermione had seen glowing in its head. She looked at it more closely and gasped.

"An Infinity Stone! But… where did it come from?"

"Loki's sceptre," Thor answered, "It's the Mind Stone. You came across another during your time in space?"

"Yes," she nodded. "The six Stones are the most powerful objects in the universe – the Aether and the Tesseract, they're part of the six along with the Power Stone." She couldn't believe another Stone had been under her nose this entire time!

"They're unparalleled in their destructive capabilities," Thor continued.

"Then why would you bring – " Steve began to question but Thor cut him off.

"Because Stark is right."

"Oh, it's _definitely_ the end times," Bruce murmured.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron," Thor announced.

"Not alone," the android confirmed.

Steve glanced at Tony. "Why does your 'vision' sound like JARVIS?"

"We reconfigured JARVIS's matrix to create something new," Tony replied, staring at his creation.

"I think I've had my fill of new," Steve said.

"You think I'm a child of Ultron?" the Vision asked him.

"You're not?" he countered.

The Vision shook his head slightly. "I'm not Ultron. I am not JARVIS. I am…" he struggled to find the word but then understanding dawned in his eyes. " _I am_."

"I looked in your head and saw annihilation," Wanda accused.

The Vision regarded her calmly. "Look again," he suggested.

Clint walked forwards shaking his head. "Her seal of approval means _jack_ to me."

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone," Thor pointed out. "And they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But, with it on our side…"

"Are you on our side?" Hermione asked directly. This wasn't the time for beating around the bush.

The Vision considered the question very seriously. "I don't think it's that simple," he replied.

"Well, it better get real simple, real soon," Clint cautioned.

"I am on the side of life," the Vision explained, "Ultron isn't. He will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked.

"You."

"Where?"

"Sokovia," Clint supplied. "He's got Nat there too."

"If we're wrong about you," Bruce began, walking towards the Vision, "if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be…"

"What will you do?" the Vision asked. Nobody answered but their answer was clear – they would have no choice but to destroy him. "I don't want to kill Ultron," the Vision admitted. "He's unique and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the Earth. So, he must be destroyed: every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others." He gaze travelled across them all, pausing for a moment on the twins, before he looked down at himself. "Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are and not what you intended. So, there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to _go_." He picked up something and held it out to Thor: _Mjolnir_.

Hermione's jaw dropped open as the others wore equally amazed expressions. Thor accepted the hammer from the Vision and tried to act like nothing out of the ordinary had happened as the new creation started to walk off.

"Er, I thought only Thor could lift the hammer?" Harry murmured next to her.

"Anyone who's worthy can," she replied, still a little shocked. "But I've never seen anyone else do it."

"Oh," he said shortly. "Well, I don't know about you, but I take that as a good sign that he's not going to go crazy like the other one."

"Right," Thor said, still trying to act nonchalant. He walked over to Tony and patted him on the back, "Well done." He seemed to notice Harry for the first time and gave him a curious look.

Steve walked over, holding out a hand. "Harry," he greeted warmly, shaking his hand. "It's good to see you. As you may have noticed, we need all the help we can get."

"Well, I'm afraid I'm all there is as far as magic is concerned," Harry replied as Hermione explained to Thor who he was. "Nobody seems particularly keen to help clean up another muggle mess."

" _Muggle_?" Thor repeated.

"What we call a non-magical person," Hermione explained as Harry shook hands with Thor too.

Tony wrinkled his nose. "Sounds kinda lame."

"How about No-Maj?" she proposed but he screwed his face up even more.

She noticed the twins were watching the exchange awkwardly and Harry had seen them too.

"So, these are the ones that exposed magic and dumped you, sedated, in a river headed towards a waterfall?" he asked, the temporarily light atmosphere extinguished once again.

"Harry, _don't_ ," she ordered. She certainly wasn't willing to welcome the twins with open arms after all the damage they'd caused, but she didn't have the time or patience to engage in hostilities with two young people who were prepared to join their cause and put their lives on the line to repair the damage they'd unleashed. "We're all on the same team now – the only thing that matters is stopping Ultron."

Steve nodded. "She's right. We leave in three minutes. Get what you need."

A series of familiar popping noises followed this order and panic gripped at Hermione's heart. She turned around, knowing what she'd see but hoping she was wrong.

Draco Malfoy stood at the head of a group of half a dozen witches and wizards and they all held their wands out ready.

" _No!_ " Hermione gasped.

"Oh, God," Harry muttered.

"Granger…" Tony said uncertainly, as Malfoy strode towards them. "What's… going on?"

"By Order of the Minister for Magic," Malfoy announced, "this breach of the International Statute of Secrecy is to be repaired immediately!"

* * *

A/N Eeee! Things are really ramping up here!

It feels like a while since I left you with a cliffhanger so, you're welcome!

Let me know what you thought after your extra-long update and your predictions of what's going to happen next!

Until next time,

Lil Drop of Magic


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Hello everyone!

Thanks for all your amazing responses to the last chapter. I got a sudden surge of reviews from new readers which was awesome given how far along we are in the series. Hello to all the newbies! As ever, lots of love to all the old timers who've been here from the beginning and everyone else in between!

* * *

"By Order of the Minister for Magic," Malfoy announced, "This breach of the International Statute of Secrecy is to be repaired immediately!"

"You can't do this!" Hermione objected vehemently, "There's been a mistake – the Minister promised me forty-eight hours, Malfoy."

"No mistake, Granger," he replied smoothly. "Fortunately, I was able to make Shacklebolt see sense."

"But I've already made progress; the spell is nearly ready!" she said, embellishing the truth a little.

"I'm just doing my job," Malfoy responded, her passionate arguments not swaying in him any way.

"But how did you know?" Harry asked, his brow creased with concern.

"I've worked hard to improve my legilimancy skills since starting in my job, so lying to me is never a wise tactic," Malfoy answered. "I spent all day digging around about you, Granger, and, when I knew enough, I confronted the Minister."

"Granger, _what's going on_?" Tony asked again but more forcefully.

"They are here to change our memories," Wanda revealed, seeing the truth in their minds, triggering a lot of shocked and angry responses.

" _What?!"_

"I'd like to see them try!"

"Are you _kidding_ me?!"

"You have no authority over me!"

"No damn way."

The Avengers looked ready to try and fight their way out of this one and the witches and wizards all raised the wands in readiness.

" _No!_ " Hermione cried to her friends, "Back down. You're only going to make things worse." She turned back to Malfoy who was watching them all cautiously. "You can't do this _now_!" she argued desperately, "You don't understand, Malfoy! The world is in imminent, grave danger and they're the only ones who can stop it."

"The affairs of muggles are nothing to do with us," he responded.

"You _cannot_ be that pig-headed," Harry shot at him. "We are literally talking about the fate of the entire world – magic included!"

"Don't think that your presence here won't have consequences, Potter," Malfoy retorted. "Granger is the only one currently facing charges for such a severe breaking of the Statute, but I can very easily change that if you make things difficult. Now, stand aside so we can enforce the law."

"Show me your properly licensed paperwork," Hermione demanded, holding out her hand, a glimmer of hope sprouting in her mind.

"My what?" Malfoy asked frowning.

"You're in a foreign country, Malfoy," she pointed out, "Where a British Ministry of Magic employee, such as yourself, has absolutely _no_ jurisdiction unless they've filled out the appropriate paperwork at MACUSA." She could tell by the way his jaw clenched tightly that she was right. "If you haven't followed the correct procedures, what you're proposing is _also_ a breaking of international magic law. So, show me your paperwork or _get out_."

"Like _you're_ in a position to argue the technicalities of following the rules," he sneered.

"You heard her, Malfoy," Harry said. "You want to do this, you follow procedure."

Malfoy looked between them with a scornful expression on his face. "I see some things never change; Potter and Granger flouting the rules because they think they know better – just throw in Weasley and it'd be exactly like when we were at school. But, be warned, there's no Dumbledore to bail you out of trouble now and don't think the Minister will step in either. You break the law, you face the punishment, and you can be sure I'll be there, doing everything in my power to make sure you get exactly what you deserve for once!"

" _Get out!_ " she screamed.

"What is the delay?" the Vision asked, floating serenely down to them all. He gazed at the newcomers calmly but, in contrast, Malfoy's group looked extremely alarmed as they raised their wands at him.

"What in Salazar's name is that?!" Malfoy exclaimed.

Vision walked towards the group, no doubt in an attempt to calm them, but they took this as an act of aggression. The room was suddenly filled with bursts of light as different spells were launched. A couple of the spells bounced off Vision's body and another passed straight through him as he altered his density, but the damage had been done because the Avengers had started to fight back. Tony was firing repulsor blasts, Thor was swinging his hammer to get ready to pounce, Wanda was using her own powers and Pietro was moving too fast to see but a couple of wizards suddenly found themselves without wands.

Hermione was temporarily struck immobile in horror and, with her brain unable to function properly, her magic did the thinking for her. The witches and wizards were thrown off their feet by powerful bursts of her magic and their wands suddenly appeared in her grasp.

Horrified by her own unintentional actions, Hermione glanced at Harry and saw her worries reflected on his face.

Malfoy staggered to his feet, eyes even wider than they were before as he stared at the wands she'd disarmed from them without needing her own. "Impossible!" he gasped. "How… you… Granger, _what have you done_?!"

Hermione opened her mouth to respond but no words would come out. Harry grabbed the wands from her grip and walked over to Malfoy, thrusting them at him, but all Hermione could see was the trickle of blood running down the cheek of one of the Obliviators as they groggily got to their feet. What _had_ she done?

"You're confused," Harry insisted as Malfoy continued to splutter about her wandless magic. "You hit your head when you fell."

Malfoy grabbed the wands and shoved Harry away. "Nice try, Potter," he spat. "But there's no way out of this one. You thought things were bad before?" he called to Hermione. "Attacking Ministry employees and displaying clear signs of dangerous magic?" He laughed humourlessly. "Have fun in Azkaban, Granger!"

Then, after a nod to his team, they disapparated, taking Hermione's future in the wizarding world with them.

* * *

Steve watched Hermione warily; she was abnormally silent and he worried that the events of the last couple of minutes hadn't registered in her brain.

"Azkaban?" Bruce asked faintly.

"Magical prison," Harry muttered.

"How much trouble is she in?" Clint questioned.

"That depends on how much they unearth," he answered darkly, "And who's doing the sentencing but, potentially…"Harry shook his head, unwilling to say it aloud.

Steve approached Hermione cautiously; not wanting to trigger an extreme reaction. He raised his hand to lightly touch her shoulder but, before he did, she jerked her head round to look at them all. "We need to go," she said, eerily calm.

"Hermione," he began, her demeanour not exactly lessening his concerns, but she cut across him.

"Three minutes."

She walked away, leaving everyone staring at her.

Steve turned to Harry for some idea of what to do but he looked just as lost as Steve felt.

"That's… not good, right?" Pietro asked.

"Definitely not," Bruce agreed. "Take it from an expert at supressing emotion – at some point, she's going to blow."

"Well, let's get to Ultron quick so he can bear the brunt of it," Tony suggested.

Steve hurried after Hermione with Harry in tow. They found her in her bedroom, methodically stashing potions into the pocket of her Sorceress outfit. She glanced at them and then started handing supplies to Harry too.

"Here," she said passing him a couple of spare wands. "Hopefully you won't need these but you never know. Have you got somewhere you can keep these healing potions? I've got some but you should carry your own too." His hands were starting to fill up with items.

"Er, right, thanks," Harry mumbled, temporarily putting the supplies on the bed before he dropped them.

"Is there anything I can do?" Steve asked, willing to help in whatever way he could.

"Could you get Harry a comm device and show him how to work it?" she replied evenly.

"Er, yeah, sure," he agreed.

"Don't forget to pick ones up for Wanda and Pietro, too," she added, grabbing up her mask and resting it on top of her head.

"Right," Steve murmured. He wanted to say or do something to comfort her in her state of shock but he recalled what Bruce said about her imploding and decided that it may be wiser to let her cope on her own terms for now. Harry had just finished stuffing his pockets with Hermione's supplies so they walked out of the door together.

"Have you ever seen her like that before?" Harry asked as they headed to the supply room.

"No," Steve replied, "Have you?"

"Never," he answered, "But I don't think she's ever been in such a dire situation before; even if we do manage to defeat Ultron's world destroying plan, the others are still going to have their memories wiped while she's sent to Azkaban – if Malfoy has his way, anyway."

"There seems a fair amount of bad blood there," Steve said, handing over the comm device that would slip into his ear.

"You could say that," Harry agreed wryly, "And blood has a lot to do with it – or at least it _did._ "

"Wait – he's one of those purebloods, isn't he?" Steve said with realisation. "Why isn't _he_ in prison?"

"His family defected right at the last moment," Harry answered. "He doesn't abide by those beliefs anymore and, to be fair, he was exposed to the ideology of Pureblood supremacy from the moment he was born so it's not surprising that he resented Hermione at school.

"Top of the school despite not having magical parents?" Steve asked.

"Exactly," Harry agreed. "And he hated me because of the whole Voldemort thing and was, I suspect, jealous of the attention that came with being the Boy-Who-Lived – not that I wanted it anyway. He was constantly trying to get us in trouble – although we got into a lot of scrapes by ourselves – but we _did_ tend to get away with things, which only infuriated him more."

Steve sighed. A childhood grudge was definitely not going to help Hermione walk free.

"Draco might not be a pureblood fanatic anymore," Harry continued, "But he most certainly will not be in favour of working alongside muggles like Hermione wants. So he'll do whatever he can to protect the magical world, and it certainly won't hurt his ambition to restore the pride in his family's name."

Steve slammed the cupboard door a little too hard and it splintered into half-a-dozen pieces. "Do you think she'll be imprisoned?" he asked quietly.

Harry took out his wand and repaired the door. "There's no point in thinking about that until we've taken care of Ultron. Let's take this one problem at a time."

Steve nodded. He explained to Harry about the comm device and gestured to the rest of the equipment in case there was anything else he wanted to take.

"Would I be allowed to visit her?" Steve asked after a moment of silence. "Would they let me?"

"I don't think so," Harry admitted solemnly, "You might be the official liaison but there have to be some limits and… you're not family."

Steve joined Tony as they waited for the others to arrive.

"No way we all get through this," Tony muttered. "If even one tin soldier is left standing, we've lost. It's gonna be blood on the floor."

"Well, at least you'll die with your mind intact," Steve teased.

Tony frowned. "What about you?"

"I'm the liaison, remember? They'll leave me alone, don't worry."

"Yeah, thanks, I feel a lot better now," Tony said sarcastically but then became serious once more. "Look, I get first crack at the big guy. Iron Man's the one he's waiting for."

"That's true," the Vision commented as he walked past, "He hates _you_ the most."

Tony ignored him. "How is she?" he asked Steve as they watched Hermione walk serenely down the stairs to the quinjet.

"Still in a state of shock," Steve admitted, the concern clear in his voice.

Tony clapped him on the back. "She'll be OK," he reassured, "She's the strongest person I know."

"Yeah…" Steve sighed. "Look, Tony – "

"Save it," Tony said, "We've got a hell of a battle first and, if we manage to get through that, apparently I won't remember what I was mad at you for anyway!"

Steve gripped his hand and shook it firmly. "Tony."

"Captain."

The quinjet took off soon after, winging its way to Sokovia at top speed.

Steve stood at the front of the jet where they could all see him. "Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire, and that's what we signed up for, but the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out," he instructed. "All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them and we can get the job done _and_ find out what Ultron's been building. We find Romanoff and we clear the field; keep the fight between us." He paused before continuing solemnly, "Ultron thinks we're monsters and we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right…"

"If I leave now, I can get more civilians clear," Hermione suggested, "especially if I take Harry and Wanda with me."

Steve shook his head. "You're too vulnerable; If Ultron finds you, you'll be facing his forces without proper backup. It'll be much easier for him to pick us off if we're isolated."

"I can be very discrete," she argued, "he won't know I'm there."

"You heard him, Granger," Tony said. "We're stronger together, remember?"

She didn't look particularly happy but Steve was relieved to see her back down. There was no way he was letting her face Ultron on her own or take someone as inexperienced as Wanda with her. Even Harry wasn't used to working with such a diverse team.

Steve sat next to Hermione for the remainder of the flight, fighting against his desire to break through her faux-calm demeanour so that he could be with _his_ Hermione for a few minutes before everything changed.

Dawn wasn't long gone when the jet landed on the outskirts of the city and the Avengers swiftly got to work. Thor and Bruce headed off to the fortress to rescue Natasha and discover what Ultron had been building. Bruce had quietly confessed to Steve that he couldn't allow the Other Guy to be in a fight near civilians and Steve had told him he understood. Privately, Steve was pretty confident that Natasha wasn't going to stand for that and he fully expected to see them both when the battle truly commenced.

Hermione, Harry and Wanda were all using their powers of persuasion to get the people of Sokovia to safety. So as not to clog up the roads too much, Hermione and Harry were creating portkey after portkey to get the people away from the city, while Steve, Clint and Pietro tried to direct those that were evacuating on foot.

Tony flew through the city, running his new computer system, FRIDAY, now that JARVIS was no longer available.

"Your man's in the church, boss," she informed him, "I think he's waiting for you." Tony altered his path to that destination and touched down in the middle, looking around for Ultron.

"Come to confess your sins?" the robot's voice asked.

"I don't know," Tony replied, "How much time you got?"

"More than you," Ultron retorted, emerging behind him.

Tony looked up at his massive form in surprise. "Uhhh, have you been juicing? Little Vibranium cocktail? You're looking, I don't wanna say, _puffy_ …"

"You're stalling to protect the people," Ultron accused.

"Well, that _is_ the mission," Tony pointed out. "Did you forget?"

"I've moved beyond your mission," Ultron explained, "I'm free." Something metallic burst through the floor in the centre of the church and Tony watched it turn and secure itself into the ground. "What? You think you were the only one stalling?"

"There's the rest of the Vibranium," FRIDAY told him as she scanned the large metal device and she showed him that it stretched down over two thousand feet below the city. "Function, still unclear."

"This is how you end, Tony," Ultron stated, "This is peace in my time."

All across the city, Ultron's army of robots erupted from the ground and crawled out of the river, prompting panicked yells and screams from the Sokovians. Tony flew away as the Avengers switched their focus to destroying the robots so that the people had more chance to escape.

"Harry, you carry on with the Portkeys," Hermione suggested as the Ultron-droids became attracted to the large crowds of people that had turned to magic to get them to safety, "I'll protect the people." She conjured a temporary shield around the civilians before sending a long burst of destructive magic around its perimeter that reduced the droids to scrap immediately.

"Ultron," the Vision called, floating down to the church to confront his creator.

Ultron rose up to meet him. "My Vision," he murmured softly, "They really did take everything from me."

"You set the terms," Vision pointed out, "You can change them."

"All right," Ultron agreed before abruptly grabbing him aggressively. Vision was prepared for this and placed his hands on Ultron's head, focusing hard on his task to burn him from the internet so that he couldn't escape through it. Ultron yelled and struggled, smashing Vision against the walls of the church but his efforts were in vain. The continued effort took its toll on Vision and, when it was completed, he fell backwards in exhaustion.

"You shut me out," Ultron realised, angrily grabbing Vision and slamming him roughly to the ground. "You think I care? You take away my world…" He moved to the device at the centre of the church and powered it up. "I take away yours."

Deep below Sokovia, Thor witnessed an enormous, impressively-engineered network of tunnels and metalwork grind to life. The complexity and vastness of the structure was staggering and its impact was felt above ground: cracks began to appear in a huge circumference around the city and the whole area trembled. The Avengers stared in shock as the city slowly began to rise upwards, prompting roads and buildings around the perimeter to collapse.

Ultron soared upwards to watch his plan be realised. "You see the beauty of it?" he said softly, his voice transmitted from all the lesser Ultron-bots throughout the city, "The inevitability; you rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword, and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me; it means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal…"

Bruce and Natasha, meanwhile, were unaware of the level of seriousness the situation above them had developed into as he led her to safety, but the walls around them all shook alarmingly.

"We gotta move," Bruce urged.

"You're not gonna turn green?" she asked.

"I've got a compelling reason not to lose my cool," he pointed out.

Her face brightened as she stared into his eyes. "I adore you," she told him, pulling his head down to hers so that she could kiss him. Just as Bruce started to relax into their embrace, she pushed him backwards into a deep cavern in the middle of the floor. "But I need the Other Guy." After a moment of quiet, the Hulk came out of the hole with a roar to land in front of her. She looked at him a little warily but he gave her a grunt of approval. "Let's finish the job," she suggested. After another grunt that Natasha took to be one to show he acquiesced, she climbed onto his back and the Hulk tore out of the fortress.

She barely had a chance to gape at the sight of the city rising a few hundred feet in the air above them because the Hulk leapt upwards, using huge, falling boulders to bridge the gap up to the city. Natasha was just able to cling on until they crashed through some trees in the forest and she was thrown to the ground. Fortunately, her momentum helped her to roll to her feet and she looked at the Hulk a little breathlessly. ""I really hope this makes us even," she panted. He regarded her darkly and then snorted in agreement. She nodded, "Now go be a hero…"

Harry blew one of the robots apart and banished another forcefully into the side of the building. It was frenetic work but he knew the number he'd actually brought down paled in comparison with either Pietro or Hermione's total as they zoomed around the city leaving nothing but metallic ruins in their wake. However, whilst Harry knew he wasn't a scientific expert, he was also aware that the higher the city rose, the more devastating the impact would be should they plummet back down.

"Stark, this whole superhero team thing is a little new to me so I don't know if I'm just supposed to trust you or if it's OK for me to ask if you're formulating some sort of plan regarding our rise?" Harry questioned as he quickly erected a shield to protect himself from a dive-bombing robot.

"You don't have any magical solutions to offer then, Potter?" Tony replied.

"None that come to mind," Harry answered wryly, quickly levitating an abandoned car into a robot's path.

"That's a pity," Tony muttered and then opened the comm up to all channels, "FRIDAY and I are working through the possibilities. I'll let you all know when I have something."

"OK, Stark," Steve answered, "You just worry about bringing the city down safely. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart," he ordered. "You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed…walk it off."

Steve saw Hermione streak past out of the corner of his eye, wrecking an Ultron-bot that was advancing on him as she went. He was glad to see that she was carrying out their mission without any major side effects but she was still unusually quiet on the comm.

A number of the robots near him suddenly took off, heading for the sheltering civilians and Steve sprinted after them in alarm. Screams filled the area as the robots plucked Sokovians into the air and soared off into the sky.

"Hermione! Thor!" Steve barked, watching helplessly as the civilians were taken far out of his reach, "Anyone capable of flight; they've grabbed civilians near the bridge."

Responding to the call, Thor sped in that direction and soon saw the figures in the sky. Destroying the machines whilst airborne was normally easy for him but, when you factored in the humans in their grasp, that endeavour would become a lot more difficult. He veered towards the robot that was closest and crushed its head with his bare hands, before grabbing the middle-aged woman that had been taken and wrenching the rest of the machine away from her. He held her tightly and flew back down to the floating city. As he did so, he saw in quick succession, a number of the kidnapping robots dismantle into pieces and their hostages disappear from view and he marvelled at the speed at which Hermione could work; in the same time it had taken him to save one civilian, she had rescued nearly a dozen.

Unfortunately, Thor wasn't the only one to notice. Once the hostages were all returned to the relative safety of the city, a large metallic figure swooped down on Hermione as she crushed an Ultron-droid with some fallen masonry. This was no lesser Ultron – this was the real deal. "Sorceress," he snarled, propelling her straight towards the thick wall of the nearest building, "You are bothering me." She had to focus all of her magic on protecting her body as he slammed her through the wall, meaning she momentarily didn't have enough spare to fight him off, and he knew it. He aimed a forceful blow at her head with his fist which her magical shield just about parried in time but his grip on her throat was beginning to burn her skin as well as strangle the life out of her. She aimed an explosive burst of magic at his chest but it just rebounded off him and created a sizeable hole in the floor. She recalled that Steve's shield also deflected hostile spells and she realised Ultron's latest body must be made of Vibranium, which made her task all the more difficult.

"Always thinking," Ultron mocked, removing his grip on her throat to slam her torso into the ground, "Always trying to find the answer." She used a strong but simple banishing charm to force him away from her but he grabbed her wrist at the last moment and used their momentum to soar through a window and over the ascending city. "But tell me how you're going to solve this?" he asked scornfully, flying purposefully low enough for her dangling form to be in serious danger of becoming crushed against the rooftops of various buildings if she didn't use her strongest shield to protect herself. "What spell will you cast to save the world? What will you do to stop this city falling – if you live that long?"

"I don't need to; Tony will work out how to bring the city down safely," she choked out, successfully freeing herself from his grip by switching the fingers of his hand with fuchsias. But, before she could disapparate, she collided painfully with a concrete roof.

"No, he won't," Ultron answered, his irritation at his flower-hand obvious, as he flew down and swatted her dazed form twenty feet across the roof. "If he touches any of the anti-gravity mechanisms, they'll go into reverse thrust. Despite the might of the Avengers," he sneered, "There's nothing you can do to stop this city plummeting. This is it – the end of the world."

 _There's nothing you can do. End of the world. There's nothing you can do. End of the world. There's nothing you can do. End of the world. There's nothing you can do. End of the world. There's nothing you can do. End of the world._

Something triggered in Hermione's brain and she couldn't breathe, let alone think.

Ultron noticed her breakdown and grabbed her roughly to peer at her curiously. He chuckled. "And here I thought you were one of the strong ones," he muttered. As her eyes rolled into the back of her head, he flew towards the rim of the city and flung her over the edge. "Goodbye, Sorceress."

* * *

A/N Eep! Things don't look too good for Hermione, do they? Only one chapter left in this part of the series now!

Let me know your predictions!

Catch you next time,

Lil Drop of Magic

PS What did you think of Thor: Ragnarok? Funniest MCU movie yet?


	11. Chapter 11

A/N Hi guys! Sorry it's been a longer wait than usual - I don't really know what happened there! Anyway, let's get on with it but don't miss the important AN at the bottom.

* * *

Some instinct made Steve turn to his left and he twisted just in time to witness a limp Hermione be thrown over the edge of the city, a fall of thousands of feet to the earth below, and he felt like his heart disappeared with her.

"Thor!" Steve yelled panic-stricken, getting as close to the edge of the city as he dared. "Hermione's free-falling!"

"In more ways than one," Ultron mocked, appearing suddenly before him. He propelled Steve backwards so that he collided forcefully with an already battered car and then zoomed off. As he struggled to remove himself from the metalwork, a blur passed over him and he prayed that Thor wouldn't be too late. Ultron had disappeared again so Steve ran back to the edge, taking out a couple of robots as he went.

"I've got her," Thor's voice called and Steve's knees nearly buckled in relief. "…sort of," Thor's voice sounded strained. "She is unconscious but her magic keeps attacking me."

"Harry, did you copy that?" Steve asked, flinging his shield so that it ruptured the head off an Ultron-bot.

"I did," he replied, "I'm on my way."

Steve stayed alert but watched for a sign of Thor and Hermione. They eventually came into view and he could understand why it was taking so long; every few seconds there was a blast of Hermione's magic and Thor would lose his grip on her as it propelled him away, then he would have to swoop down and catch her again. Harry appeared next to Steve and watched with a frown.

"What happened?" he asked.

"A run-in with Ultron, I think," Steve answered. "He said she was free-falling in more ways than one so I guess her mind finally caught up with everything that's happened."

Thor reached the bridge with a final burst of flight but Hermione's unintentional magic blasted them all off their feet.

"Be cautious in your approach," Thor warned, blood dripping freely from a cut above his eye, and he winced as he got to his feet.

Harry sent a simple levitation spell in her direction to move her further from the edge but a streak of light from Hermione chased the path of his magic back to him and threw him backwards.

Steve looked around to check that there was no immediate threat to either themselves, or the civilians who were sheltering in a nearby building, before approaching her carefully. If her mind _had_ shut down, he assumed that her innate magic was protecting her now. Unfortunately, Steve knew only too well that the instability of her inner magic made her quite dangerous to others and, in a warzone like this, to herself, too.

"Hermione," he called gently as he got closer. "It's alright, my love, I'm here." He lifted his shield just in time to deflect a burst of her magic. " _I'm here_ ," he repeated firmly. "And, while I don't blame you for trying to shut this all out, I really need you to wake up." He managed to close his hand around hers without any further incidents but he daren't try anything more than that for the moment. "I need you to come back to me…"

Across the city, Wanda and Clint had been forced to take shelter in a building as a group of Ultron-droids surrounded them. Wanda cowered against the wall. "How could I let this happen?" she murmured and Clint crouched down next to her.

"Hey! Hey are you OK?"

"This is all our fault," she whimpered, not taking in his words.

"Hey, look at me," Clint instructed. "It's your fault; it's everyone's fault – _who cares_? Are you up for this? _Are you?_ Look, I just need to know because the city is flying. OK, _look_ , the city is flying, we're fighting an army of robots… and I have a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense." A couple of projectiles burst through the wall close to his head and he paused his speech to quickly fire an arrow through the hole they had made, before kneeling back down next to Wanda as she continued to gasp for breath and stare at him with wide, panicked eyes. "But I'm going back out there because it's my job. OK? And I can't do my job and babysit. It doesn't matter what you did or what you were. If you go out there, you fight, and you fight to kill. Stay in here, you're good. I'll send your brother to come find you. But if you step out that door, you _are_ an Avenger."

He waited for a response but she only gazed at him.

"Alright," he said, getting to his feet, "Good chat."

He stood by the door and notched half a dozen arrows to his bow at once. "Yeah, the city is flying," he murmured before kicking open the door and re-entering the chaos.

Wanda stared at the place he'd disappeared from and faintly marvelled, despite her inner turmoil, at how he could risk his life in such a calm manner. _It doesn't matter what you did_ , he'd told her, but that wasn't true. Her actions _had_ helped to lead them all here; nothing she could do would change that.

But could she go out there? Could she put her life on the line to try and make amends? An explosion just outside the building she was hiding in caused little piles of dust and debris to descend from the ceiling and she worried that Clint was hurt. She stood up with conviction. He saved her life by pushing her into this building so, at the very least, she owed him support. But, more importantly, she owed it to herself to prove that she was the strong woman she'd always believed herself to be. She was _not_ going to cower in the dark any longer…

Clint loosed arrow after arrow, including one as he leapt sideways behind a car. "Ow," he muttered, after he landed somewhat ungracefully amongst the jagged metal and debris. He risked a glance over the hood of the car and unhappily saw at least half-a-dozen droids advancing on him, with a couple more flying in to join them.

He heard a door opening and he turned to see Wanda stride confidently into the street, her eyes glowing red as she used her powers to begin blasting and pulling apart the droids. Clint stood up to join her in the assault, meaning that, within seconds, the street was clear of all hostiles. He nodded at her, pleased that she'd stood up to the task, and she nodded back.

"All right," Clint communicated to the others, "We're all clear here."

"We're clear too," Steve answered, "But Hermione has shut down. We can't get through to her."

"I might be able to help," Wanda suggested.

"We're coming to you," Clint confirmed.

Pietro suddenly appeared in front of them, picked up Wanda, and then zoomed off again. "Keep up, old man!" he called as he left Clint in his dust.

Clint aimed his arrow after him in annoyance. "Nobody would know. Nobody," he muttered, lowering the bow and beginning to jog after them. " _The last I saw him, an Ultron was sitting on him_ ," he playfully rehearsed, " _Yeah, he'll be missed, that quick little bastard. I miss him already…_ "

Pietro skidded to a halt by the bridge and put his sister down carefully. He looked around for any sign of an enemy but was relieved to see that they were momentarily safe.

"Has anyone seen Ultron?" Pietro asked as his sister crouched down next to Rogers, looking intently at the Sorceress.

"Not since he threw her over the edge," Steve replied.

Thor wiped blood out of his eye. "I will find Ultron and keep him busy," he said, swinging his hammer and then disappearing from view.

"Her voice is quiet," Wanda revealed. "Distant."

"You can hear her?" Steve asked in surprise. "If our skin is touching, I can normally hear her too but now there's just silence."

"Her mind has retreated to protect itself," she explained.

"Can you bring her back?" Harry asked worriedly.

"I will try," Wanda murmured. She closed her eyes and focused her own mind as she gently reached out to Hermione. There was an aggressive response from Hermione but Wanda was able to shield herself from the attack. Harry was also able to shield himself and Pietro was quick enough to move out of the way but Steve was propelled a few feet along the ground.

Natasha appeared and pulled Steve to his feet.

"Thanks," he said, pleased to see her.

"It's a bit too quiet here," Natasha commented, glancing around.

Steve glanced over to Wanda and Hermione and had to be content with the fact that they were doing all they could for the moment to bring her back. There was still the rest of the world to save, after all.

"The next wave's gonna hit any minute," he said, almost surprised that there had been a lull of Ultron-bots. He knew that they could take care of them but it was for nothing if they couldn't bring the city back down safely. "What have you got, Stark?"

"Well, nothing great," Tony responded dejectedly, "Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan," Steve reminded him.

"Impact radius is getting bigger every second," Tony pointed out, "We're going to have to make a choice."

"I can start portkeying people off," Harry said and then frowned at Hermione's prone figure, "But it'll take much longer than we'd like if I'm the only one doing it."

"How long?" Steve asked.

Harry shook his head. "Too long," he admitted but Steve told him to get started anyway.

"If Stark finds a way to blow this rock…" Natasha said but Steve shook his head.

"Not 'til everyone's safe."

She stared at him. "The people up here versus _everyone_ down there? There's no math there."

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it," Steve insisted.

"I didn't say we should leave," she told him gently and he looked at her in surprise because it was the first time he'd ever heard her mention the possibility of an unsuccessful outcome. "There's worse ways to go," she admitted, looking out over the clouds. "Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff," a familiar voice said in their ears. "It's about to get better..." And, before their eyes, a S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier emerged from the clouds. "Nice, right?" Fury said. "Pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."

Steve looked at the helicarrier appreciatively, relieved that something was finally going their way. "Fury, you son of a bitch."

" _Woah_ ," Fury chastised, "You kiss your fiancée with that mouth?"

Steve glanced over at Hermione. "I hope to." He jogged over to her as a number of lifeboats deployed from the helicarrier.

Pietro was watching the boats with an impressed look on his face. "This is S.H.I.E.L.D?" he asked.

"This is what S.H.I.E.L.D is supposed to be," Steve answered, kneeling next to Wanda.

"This is not so bad," Pietro admitted with a grin.

"Let's load them up," Natasha suggested to him and they left to start evacuating the civilians.

"Any progress?" Steve asked Wanda hopefully. If they couldn't bring her round, he could at least get Harry to put her somewhere secure on the helicarrier.

"I have calmed her down," Wanda replied, her eyes still shut, "And told her that all is not lost, that we will defeat Ultron, that we can save everyone."

"But you can't get her to wake up?"

Wanda opened her eyes. "Her mind is peaceful. She will wake when she is ready – there's nothing else I can do."

"How about a true love's kiss?" Tony suggested in his ear.

"Very funny," Steve muttered.

"I'm being serious," he claimed, "The job's not done yet and you know she wouldn't want to miss out on this."

"She's just had a mental breakdown," Steve argued, scooping Hermione into his arms after a reassuring nod from Wanda that her magic wouldn't attack him. "She shouldn't be going into battle."

"I think that should be her choice," Tony countered. At Steve's pause, he rolled his eyes, "For God's sake, Steve, just kiss your fiancée already!"

Steve looked down at her, admittedly feeling a little ridiculous; but, if there was a chance that this would work, it was worth taking. "You're all I need, remember?" he whispered, before gently touching his lips to hers.

 _Steve?_

A shock went through him, almost like he'd been electrocuted, as he felt Hermione connect with him like she used to. He pulled back and watched with relief as her face screwed up before she cracked open an eye lid.

"It worked!" Wanda laughed.

" _Seriously_?!" Tony asked as he flew over them. "That both pleases and utterly disgusts me."

A number of Ultron-droids flew in the direction of the helicarrier and Tony followed them. Gunfire reduced one of the droids to wreckage and Tony turned to see War Machine soar through the air.

"Yes!" Rhodey cried, blowing another robot apart, "Now _this_ is gonna be a good story."

"Yup," Tony agreed, "If you live to tell it."

"You think I can't hold my own?" Rhodey asked.

"We get through this, _I'll_ hold your own," Tony responded.

"You _had_ to make it weird," Rhodey muttered.

The two friends kept the Ultron-bots occupied so that the Sokovians could start boarding the life boats and Hermione quickly took in what had happened in the last few minutes.

"I'm sorry, it all got too much!" she said to Steve but he shook his head.

"It's OK," he reassured, "It wasn't your fault. I'm just glad you're alright." He nodded towards the nearest lifeboat. "Do you want to get on?" Hermione regarded him silently and he frowned. "Yeah… there's no chance of that, is there?"

"None whatsoever," she agreed.

"OK," he nodded, "We'll take things one problem at a time; that's the only way to do this."

"One problem at a time," she repeated…

Thor had found Ultron at the church. The fingers on one of his hands may have curiously been replaced with flowers but that didn't much lessen Ultron's threat.

"You think you're saving anyone?" Ultron snarled as he slammed Thor into ground, making him lose his grip on Mjolnir. Ultron grasped Thor's throat and raised his flowery stump threateningly. "I turn that key and drop this rock a little early and it's still billions dead," he said, referring to the structure in the middle of the church. "Even _you_ can't stop that."

"I am Thor, son of Odin," he replied imperiously, "And as long as there is life in my breast…I am running out of things to say!" Thor looked past Ultron to where Vision was holding the hammer. "Are you ready?"

Ultron turned, relaxing his grip on Thor's throat, and Vision hit him with such force that he disappeared from view.

"It's terribly well-balanced," Vision complimented as Thor took Mjolnir back.

"Well, if there's too much weight," Thor replied amiably, "you lose power on the swing, so…"

"Thor, I got a plan," Stark's voice called in his ear.

"We're out of time," he replied gravely, surveying the church's surroundings and seeing multiple robots headed in their direction. "They're coming for the core."

"Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board those carriers," Tony instructed, "Avengers, time to work for a living."

Hermione heeded his instructions and apparated herself, Steve and Wanda to the site. The rest of the team quickly arrived in ones and twos, eradicating any of the Ultron-bots they could see as they did so.

"Romanoff," Stark called, noticing the only two absentees, "You and Banner better not be playing 'hide the zucchini'."

"Don't be vulgar," Hermione chided, wrinkling her nose.

"Relax, shellhead," Natasha responded, "Not all of us can fly." They saw a large truck come into view and Natasha jumped out of it. "What's the drill?" she asked.

Tony pointed to the middle of the church. " _This_ is the drill," he explained. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

A loud thump and growl announced the Hulk's arrival and then they saw Ultron float down about fifty yards away from them.

"Is that the best you can do?" Thor roared.

In response, Ultron simply raised his arm, summoning the rest of his robots and the horizon was soon flooded with them. "You had to ask," Steve muttered, throwing a disapproving look at Thor.

" _This_ is the best _I_ can do," Ultron announced, before gesturing to the Avengers, "This is exactly what I wanted; all of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Well, like the old man said," Tony answered, looking over at Steve, "t _ogether._ "

Hulk roared his defiance as the swarm began. They came from every entrance and flew down through the roof but the Avengers were equal to the task. It was a chaotic, frenetic commotion as they blasted, ripped, fired, crushed, punched, cursed and destroyed everything that crossed the threshold.

Ultron yelled in fury and flew at Vision, attacking him in contempt. Vision retaliated by using the power of the Mind Stone to drive him from the church. Thor added the sustained lightning from Mjolnir and Tony kept up a continuous blast as they pinned Ultron down. His body began to melt and deteriorate so they finally let up the streams of light.

Ultron struggled to his feet. "You know, with the benefit of hindsight…" But he was unable to finish his sentence as the Hulk thumped him across the city before he turned and started chasing after the remaining robots as they began to run away.

"They'll try to leave the city," Thor warned.

"We can't let them, not even one," Tony said urgently. "Rhodey!"

"I'm on it," he replied, soaring towards the escaping droids. "No, I didn't say you could leave," he joked as he started firing at them. "War Machine coming at you!"

Steve turned to the rest of the Avengers. "We gotta move out," he ordered, "Even I can tell the air is getting a little thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you."

"What about the core?" Clint asked.

"I'll protect it," Wanda volunteered. Clint looked at her in surprise but she held his gaze assuredly. "It's my job." He nodded at her and then signalled for Natasha to join him as Hermione turned to Steve and Harry.

"I'm going to see if Tony needs any help destroying the city," she told them and gestured to herself, "All of this power's got to be good for something." She disapparated before either man had the chance to respond, which was likely the intention because neither looked particularly happy about her plan.

"Let's go," Steve said to Harry and they began to make their way to the nearest boat.

"So," Harry said conversationally, "true love's kiss, huh?"

"Shut up, Potter."

Pietro reappeared next to his sister after a quick bout of robot hunting. "Get the people on the boats," she ordered him.

"I'm not going to leave you here," he protested.

She looked at him firmly. "I can handle this," she said, using her powers to mangle an oncoming droid. "Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before." Pietro still didn't look happy but he began to walk off. "Y _ou understand?_ "

He turned back. "You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you," he pointed out.

She laughed. "Go."

Hermione flew underneath the city to find Tony. "Need a hand?" she asked.

He looked at her in surprise but shook his head. "It's too dangerous."

"That's not really what I asked, is it?" she responded. "If there's a way that I can help create a bigger explosion and lessen the impact down below, then I'm going to do it, Tony."

He reluctantly explained how they were going to supercharge the Vibranium spire to create a heat seal so that when Thor struck it with his hammer, the resulting force would destroy the city. He used his suit to cut a hole in the base underneath Ultron's core and they looked inside the gigantic mechanism.

"Vibranium deflects my magic if it's an aggressive spell," she told him as she held onto his suit and peered up at the colossal structure through the hole.

"You should be fine with supercharging," he replied, "It's not a hostile act. But you've got to promise me you'll leave before Thor hits it. I mean it, Granger; nothing will be gained if you stay an extra second."

"Well, then I'm taking you with me," she insisted.

"There'll be no time for that," he argued, "I've got my suit to protect me – you've got nothing."

"Really?" she said, "My magic's _nothing_?"

"We haven't got time for this," he muttered, "Thor, I'm gonna need you back in the church."

Thor watched a few more people hurry towards the lifeboats. "Is this the last of them?" he asked Steve as he watched Natasha approach the Hulk to return Banner back to them.

"Yeah," he replied, "Everyone else is on the carrier."

"You know," Tony continued gravely, "If this works, we maybe don't walk away."

"Maybe not," Thor agreed solemnly.

The chatter of gunfire disturbed the quiet and they heard the Hulk roar. Looking up, they saw their quinjet soar towards them and it opened fire again, forcing Steve and Thor to leap for cover as the bullets erupted in the ground around them.

Pietro saw the advancing quinjet too but he also saw that Clint stood in the line of fire, defencelessly clutching a child. As Clint turned his back on the quinjet to protect the child, Pietro rushed forward and pushed them behind a car, exposing himself to the bullets instead.

Clint looked around, confused as to what had happened, and saw Pietro standing there, his body riddled with bullet holes.

"You didn't see that coming?" Pietro said hoarsely and then fell to the ground.

Wanda felt it happen. She knew her brother was dead. Her heart stopped beating as she fell to her knees and a destructive wave of energy left her body, destroying the nearby robots, as she screamed in utter despair.

Thor left for the church as Steve helped Clint carry Pietro onto the lifeboat, and Hulk leapt onto the helicarrier with Natasha. He placed her gently on the runway before launching himself after the Quinjet.

"Oh, for God's sake," Ultron cried in exasperation as the Hulk flung him back down to the city to crash land in an empty tram, which was where Wanda found him. Her eyes and hands glowed with red energy as she surveyed him darkly.

"Wanda," he murmured weakly, "If you stay here, you'll die."

"I just did," she replied shortly. "Do you know how it felt?" She used her powers to pull out the central pump of his body. "It felt like that…"

Hermione nervously tapped Tony on the back and then floated next to him so they could supercharge the core together. It wouldn't be easy to maintain her flight and send out a continuous flow of magic at the same time.

"Remember," he told her, "Get cl-"

The city dropped.

Hermione distanced herself from the base and intended to start releasing her magic but the anti-gravs flipped into reverse, causing the speed of the city's fall to increase. The air around them soared in temperature and Hermione had to fly down at top speed to stop herself from being incinerated.

" _Go!_ " Tony yelled in her ear as he, too, struggled to get back in position.

She stubbornly maintained a heat-resistant charm as she flew in smoke-form through the hole. It was less hot in there so she dropped the charm and charged the core as powerfully as she could before flying out of the hole again to avoid the power that hummed through the air thanks to her and Tony's efforts.

"Thor, on my mark…" Tony called and Thor raised Mjolnir aloft to summon all the energy he could. "Now!"

Hermione grabbed the foot of Tony's suit and disapparated them to the landing strip of the helicarrier. Unfortunately, a number of rocks were transported with them and Hermione banished them away before they crushed her as an explosion boomed beneath them. She apparated to the edge of the carrier but she couldn't see anything through the clouds.

"Thor?" she asked but there was no response. Hermione looked back at Tony but he was struggling to get power from his suit. "I'm going back down there," she told him and then jumped off the edge. As she flew lower, she was relieved to see that the city was no more. Parts of the wreckage were still plummeting to the ground; thankfully, much of it fell in the lake but the circle of devastation spread wide. She knew that only a miracle would have prevented any civilian fatalities as a result of the explosion; either in the city or wider countryside.

Hermione kept her eyes peeled for Thor but it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. She paused on the shore of the lake and cast a summoning charm; if that didn't work, she'd just have to wait anxiously to hear back from him. She focused on the spell, willing his form to emerge as she peered around her surroundings. Something burst from the water and, to her relief, she saw that it was him. She lowered his unconscious form gently to the ground and cleared his airways, which made him cough and splutter awake.

"We did it," she told him softly, "It's over." He sat up with a groan and dragged a hand down his face, only then noticing that Mjolnir's strap was wrapped around his wrist. "I can dry you off, if you like? I had to use my magic to pull you out of the lake," she explained.

He looked confused as he glanced between Hermione and the hammer but then he shook his head and hauled himself to his feet. "That is not necessary," he replied.

"Come on," she said, holding out her hand, "I'll take you back to the others."

The flight deck was clear when she apparated them up. "I've got Thor," she communicated.

"You alright, buddy?" Tony responded, sounding a little exhausted.

"A little damp," Thor replied as he and Hermione made their way to the nearest door that would take them down to the lower levels. "But I can't complain."

"We're in the lab," Steve told them. His voice was heavier than Hermione had anticipated and anxiety settled in her stomach. When she saw everyone's sombre and drawn faces, she knew she was right to be worried. Most of the group were there except for Bruce, Pietro, Wanda and Vision.

Hermione walked straight over to Steve, slotting into his side. "What happened?" she asked quietly.

"Pietro," he murmured, shaking his head.

She gasped, holding a hand to her chest at the fate of her new colleague. They'd certainly not seen eye to eye, and his actions had created utter chaos for her, but he had been so full of life that it was almost impossible to think of him as dead. She recalled what she'd told Steve about the Maximoffs after their first encounter; how, in many ways, they were victims who'd been dealt a bad turn in life. Pietro's actions that day had proved her right and she determined that she would always remember him that way.

"The others?" she asked fearfully, referring to the other absentees.

"Vision got Wanda away," Steve replied. "He's making sure there's no trace of Ultron and she wants to be on her own, which is understandable. The Hulk flew off in the quinjet. Nat tried to get him to turn it around but…" he shook his head. "It's in stealth mode so there's no way to track it."

Hermione glanced at Natasha and she could see that her friend was trying hard to cover up the hurt she was feeling inside. Hermione wished there was something she could do for her, some spell she could cast, but she knew nothing that could fix a broken heart.

Over the next few minutes, she visited each of her friends in turn and healed their various scrapes and injuries as well as her own.

When she came to Harry, he waved her away. "I'll do my own," he told her.

"You're horrendous at healing charms," she reminded him, dabbing a cloth with some burn salve to rub into the singed skin on his left arm, and he duly let her fix his sprained ankle and bruised ribs.

"I don't know how you do this," Harry murmured. "It brings back so many memories of the war."

"You know what it's like," she answered, "you get used to it."

He looked at her closely. "That's not a good thing," he pointed out.

Steve forced her into a chair and she promised him she'd sit still for five minutes but, after forty-five seconds, he could see she was struggling. He reached for hand. "You're going to burn out again," he warned.

"No, I'm not, I'm-" But she never got to finish her sentence.

Hermione gasped as Draco Malfoy strode into the room, flanked, once again, by a number of serious-faced witches and wizards. "Hermione Granger, you are under arrest by the order of the International Confederation of Wizards. You are charged with a Grade One breach of the International Statute of Secrecy, illegal advancement of your own magic, and attacking employees of the British Ministry of Magic." He flourished a piece of paper at her. "All perfectly in order and signed by the Supreme Mugwump himself in case you wanted to check."

"What the…?" Natasha breathed but Clint signalled her to be quiet.

"Arresting her in the middle of a muggle aircraft, are you _mad_ , Malfoy?!" Harry cried.

"The proper wards are in place, Potter, I'm not that stupid that I would expose magic in front of all those people," he drawled, a knowing expression on his face.

"Well, you should arrest me, too," Harry declared.

"All in good time, Potter," Draco assured him before he returned his gaze to Hermione.

"I'm going before the Confederation?" she asked, a whirl of dread settling in her stomach.

"Yes," he replied. "An emergency session was called after New York to ensure you could be arrested in any part of the world."

"Then you _cannot_ obliviate these people," she argued, a slither of relief running through her, "Not until the outcome of the trial is decided."

Malfoy stiffened but he wasn't shocked by her words so she assumed he'd been made aware of that technicality. "You are to be held responsible for whatever further breaches they cause between now and your trial," he said tautly, before adding in a hiss, "but you're only delaying the inevitable because we both know that you're guilty, and you risk bringing down our whole society while you attempt to save your neck!"

"We're not going to tell anyone about magic," Tony said, looking hostilely at Malfoy. "And not just because it'll mean our minds will be wiped or Granger gets in trouble."

Malfoy sneered at him. "You think we should _trust you_ : the people who just dropped a city from the sky?"

Tony glared back, thankfully managing to hold his tongue.

Malfoy turned back to Hermione. "This would be the time that I ask you to surrender your wand. Do you even have one?"

She reached into her pocket and retrieved the wand she carried around partly for precision work, partly as habit, and handed it over to him. "You don't need to worry, Malfoy, I'll come quietly. Just, please, can I have a few minutes to say goodbye?"

He passed her wand onto one of the witches and then surveyed her coolly. "The portkey is set to leave in…" He took out a pocket watch from inside his cloak, "eight minutes and forty-six seconds."

She nodded at him and turned back to her friends. She opened her mouth but struggled to find something to say as they looked at her hopelessly. "You… you know I'll do everything I can to, to…"

Clint nodded. "We know," he said heavily, getting to his feet to give her a hug. "Stay strong, Mei-mei."

She smiled tightly, trying to contain her emotions, as Thor stepped forward to embrace her too. "Are you sure you don't want me to just throw them off the carrier?" he asked semi-seriously.

She let out a breath of nervous laughter. "No, it's alright," she replied, "This needs to be done."

"This seems serious," Natasha murmured, looking warily at the witches and wizards. "You come back soon," she ordered.

"I'll try," Hermione answered and turned to Tony. He was frowning at the floor. "Don't do anything crazy while I'm gone," she suggested and he smiled grimly.

"No promises," he muttered.

She hugged him tightly and he actually embraced her back. _Don't beat yourself up, Tony, please,_ she told him. He momentarily stiffened but then nodded as he released her.

"I'm going to visit you so often you'll be sick of the sight of me," Harry vowed, hugging her briefly. "We'll get through this. The Confederation will see sense." He sounded confident but Hermione couldn't help but feel that it was more put on than genuine.

Finally, with a heavy heart, she turned to Steve. Immediately, tears threatened to fall from her eyes and she wiped them away as she closed the distance between them.

"It's OK," he told her even though he felt dead inside. He couldn't believe he'd spent all those months searching and waiting for her to come back only to have her snatched away from him again for an unforeseeable length of time.

"W-will you visit me too?" she asked, her voice trembling.

Steve couldn't withhold a grimace. "Harry doesn't think I'd be allowed to."

"But you're an official liaison!" she argued desperately, despairing at the idea of not being able to see him again.

"That's not enough," he said heavily, "I'm not family."

Hermione glanced at Harry and he nodded grimly in confirmation. She gasped and threw her arms around Steve's neck, burying her face in his shoulder. Steve held her closely, trying to convince himself that he would be able to do so again soon but neither of them could prevent their minds from exploring the possibility that it could be years before they got the chance, if it all.

"Well, I can fix that," Tony's voice cut through the silence. Hermione and Steve pulled apart to look at him questioningly. "I can marry you," he said simply. "I got my license years ago – don't ask, long story – but it's perfectly legal." They continued to gape at him. "Do you want to or not?" he pressed, "We're a little tight for time, after all."

"Do it," Steve urged and Tony started typing into the computer behind him. Hermione turned to Steve in surprise.

"But this isn't how you wanted –"

"I don't care," he interrupted. " _Do you_?"

The timing was _awful_ : she was about to be incarcerated, the ruins of a city they'd blown up lay thousands of feet below their feet and one of their colleagues had died less than half an hour ago. She loved Steve with all her heart and, if she had her way, her future would be with him. The problem was her future wasn't in her hands anymore…

"If I'm found guilty, I could be sent away for _years_ , Steve," she pointed out. "That's not fair to you."

He shook his head. "That's _my_ decision," he insisted. "Whatever the verdict, it doesn't change my commitment to you." He glanced at Malfoy. "How long have we got?"

Malfoy didn't look particularly pleased at the turn of events and he looked at his watch haughtily. "Five minutes and six seconds."

Steve looked at her expectantly and she tried to come to a decision as dozens of thoughts swirled around her head at once.

"Do you know what date it is today?" he asked gently.

She took a moment to remember and then she gasped. "First of May…"

"The day we first met," he reminded her though, of course, she hadn't forgotten. "The day we got engaged…"

"OK," she breathed, "Let's do this." There were excited mutterings amongst their friends and Tony announced that he was ready. "Wait," Hermione realised suddenly, "What about rings?"

"I've got them," Steve revealed, reaching into a pocket of his suit, "I've had them with me ever since you left," he admitted, looking a little embarrassed. "I couldn't bear the idea of locking them away somewhere…" He passed the rings to Harry and then nodded at Tony.

"Er, dearly beloved, I guess we'll get straight to it," Tony said as the pair of them gripped each other's hands tightly. "Do you, Steve, take Hermione as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," Steve said firmly without a second's hesitation

"And do you, Hermione, take Steve as your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do," she confirmed, letting him feel her love for him.

"OK, well, those were a couple of no-brainers," Tony pointed out. "Onto the rings: these seal the promise you're making to each other."

Steve took Hermione's ring from Harry and locked his gaze on hers. "Hermione, I give you this ring as a symbol of my unending love for you." He slid it down her finger, hardly daring to believe that it was finally happening. "With this ring, I thee wed."

With trembling fingers, Hermione picked up Steve's ring. "Steve, I give you this ring as a symbol of my unending love for you. With this ring, I thee wed."

"Great! So by the power vested in me and in sight of your friends, and, you know, these other people," Tony muttered, throwing an annoyed glance to the unimpressed witches and wizards, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride but I suggest you make it quick because we still need to sign the marriage certificate."

Steve cupped her face gently as they shared a short, sweet kiss as Natasha, Clint, Thor and Harry called their congratulations. Tony pulled the computer screen towards them. "I updated my license so that it's valid internationally and I had to be creative with the certificate but I'll make sure it fits all the legal requirements. Granger, you sign here," he pointed to the spot on the screen and she used her finger to make a digital signature.

"You can't call me that anymore," she told Tony as Steve signed next.

"Oh," he frowned, "I guess not. Can't you just keep your old name? It'd make things easier for me."

"Rogers still has two syllables," she pointed out.

"True, but that's still going to take some getting used to," he said seriously.

"One minute," Draco announced, looking eager to get off the carrier.

Hermione looked at Natasha. "Will you sign as a witness? This was all down to you, remember?"

"I'd love to," she replied, trying to look pleased despite her personal heartache.

"Harry?" she asked and he nodded.

"Of course."

"And here I thought you'd dismissed my suggestion of getting married in your supersuits," Clint said, shaking Steve's hand and kissing Hermione on the cheek. "Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Rogers."

"Hermione Rogers," Steve murmured and she looked at him. "Are you sure? You don't want Granger-Rogers instead?"

Hermione shook her head. "Granger has stood me in good stead but it's had its fair share of bad luck, too. Maybe Rogers will be the start of something better; hope for the future."

"It's time," Malfoy announced, holding out a violet woollen scarf.

Hermione kissed Steve quickly but hands pulled her back.

"I'll see you soon, I promise," Steve said, feeling sick as the wizards gripped Hermione's arms tightly and forced her to hold the scarf.

"Three, two, one," Malfoy said.

Then they were gone.

* * *

A/N: An so ends another stage in the Sorceress stories! I really enjoyed writing this one and, after the first couple of chapters, it was definitely the easiest one I've written so far. I hope you enjoyed it.

Yay, Steve and Hermione got married! Though, I'll admit, it probably wasn't the happy occasion you were all hoping for! The 'True Love's Kiss' thing was TOTAL CHEESE but I don't care and I honestly think it's one of my favourite snippets from the whole damn series. What a loser I am.

Hermione pulling Thor (and Mjolnir) out of the lake is a continuation of the earlier question about whether she's worthy to lift the hammer. Her ability to do so here depends on whether you think, in this case, she just picked up Thor or if she is worthy to 'pick up the hammer' and therefore was able to lift Thor, too. I'll let you guess which one I lean towards...

RIP Pietro. I expect some of you were hoping he'd be saved but it was not meant to be. I had to think where Hermione's character would be at that time if she was really there and, unfortunately, it wasn't near Pietro.

SUPER IMPORTANT INFORMATION: If you've been a longtime reader of this series, you will know that I don't keep you waiting too long before I start posting the next fic. It sucks to say this but that won't be the case this time. I AM NOT abandoning this series and I already have a decent chunk of the next one written out. The reason there's going to be a little break is that I don't want to start posting the next story until Infinity War comes out. I know, I know, that's MONTHS away and, as I said, it sucks that there's going to be a break but, whilst writing this series, I've always known what's going to happen next for all the main players (be it through Age of Ultron, Civil War etc.) until now. There's too many things I don't know about what happens after Civil War for particular characters. I understand that some of you will be thinking, 'Hey, this is fanfiction; just write whatever the hell you _want_ to happen next, use your imagination for once!' but that's not how this series has worked. By keeping things close to the true MCU I have been able to continue Hermione's involvement without going off on a tangent and getting myself stuck. I hope you understand! This series means so much to me and I assure you that I have every intention of carrying on with it. So, after May, keep a look out for  Sorceress: Civil War (and, who knows, I might even have the courage to post a little earlier than that to get the ball rolling).

Phew, sorry about the essay! Now, I was debating about whether or not to tell you guys this but I flipped a coin so, here we are. A few months ago, I actually started posting under another account when I had other fic ideas that weren't related to the Sorceress series. If you want to read some of my other stuff whilst waiting for the next installment, my other name is Red8436 (I'll list it under my 'Favourite Authors' tab on my bio). One story is a HP/Avengers crossover featuring Hermione, Steve and Bucky. The other two are pure HP stories focused on Hermione/Dolohov. I feel it might be worth pointing out that the stories I write on the other account do not impact on my writing time for Sorceress :)

Anyway, lots of love to you all!

Lil Drop of Magic

PS Happy Holidays!


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